From Apple Insider today…

[David Lawrence]

You forgot one:

Be the best

The fourth and final guiding principle that Joswiak shared was Apple’s commitment to only enter markets that it believes it can be the best in. Each of the three products currently under the executive’s watch — the iPod, iPhone and iPad, has arguably become the best in its industry.

”If you can’t enter the market and try and be the best in it, don’t enter it. You need that differentiation. At Apple if we can’t be the best then we are not interested in it,” Joswiak said.

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David Lawrence
art~media~design~research
propaganda.com
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[Bill Davis]

[David Lawrence] “has arguably become the best in its industry.”

Well, there’s the rub.

Is “the industry” – limited to the needs of the top pro facilities editors?
Or does apple see it as the wider world of ALL those who need to edit video at a level higher than iMovie can accommodate?

Does the editor working on the video for the local car dealership, the municipal water district, or the university sports team deserve to have their wants and needs prioritized right alongside those of the feature film or the episodic TV editor?

I don’t know the answer to that, btw.

I just know that the question reminds me of the classic conundrum of prayer in public schools. Like everyone else, I’m all for them – just as long as *I* get to decide which ones. Its when somebody else gets to set the prayer agenda, that we tend to bristle.

And so it goes.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Herb Sevush]

“just know that the question reminds me of the classic conundrum of prayer in public schools. Like everyone else, I’m all for them – just as long as *I* get to decide which ones. Its when somebody else gets to set the prayer agenda, that we tend to bristle.”

But I thought I count as an “everyone” and I’m opposed to the idea of any type of prayer in a public school. Not trying to make this a political thread, just pointing out that you often argue from a point of view that intimates that your personal experience is universal, when it isn’t.

I think it’s quite clear what Apple means by “best” – being the market leader and trend setter. Time will tell if that applies to FCPX. It never did for Motion, which was also written from scratch by these same Apple geniuses to revolutionize compositing. Hardly. And if X turns out to be merely a good program that serves it users but doesn’t go on to become market leader – what then?

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
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nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Daniel Frome]

[Herb Sevush] “leader and trend setter. Time will tell if that applies to FCPX.”

hah. I’m sitting here with my macbook pro, mac pro, and an iphone beside me… but even I cannot buy this one.

[Bill Davis]

[Herb Sevush] “But I thought I count as an “everyone” and I’m opposed to the idea of any type of prayer in a public school. Not trying to make this a political thread, just pointing out that you often argue from a point of view that intimates that your personal experience is universal, when it isn’t.”

Herb,

You’re correct. Actually, I pushed the rhetorical point too far. And so publicly apologize to any agnostics, ignostics, or just plain folks who don’t want this distracting diversion. And I acknowledge that I’m prone to falling into the very same trap I often argue against — thinking that my experiences should be relevant to all.

I must say that if you look over my writing here overall, I’m more often part of the minority than the majority. So in that sense, I believe my views help present a bit of “check and balance” to some running trends and that may contribute to a broader picture for the lurkers – but I also freely admit that balance is in the eye of the beholder. So your point stands.

“Before speaking out ask yourself whether your words are true, whether they are respectful and whether they are needed in our civil discussions.”-Justice O’Connor

[Ben Scott]

just because Motion isnt after effects is hardly a reason to diss it

In my opinion it is much much better for specific tasks and those tasks seem to be the ones asked for the majority of the time e.g. design, basic 3D, GPU accelarated graphics.

If you need high end compositing After Effects fits a few needs but its a shame it still feels like Photoshop with keyframes, its such an inefficient use of screen estate in a software of today that it is frankly laughable.

I chose to move off from After Effects many years ago as a consequnce of the time spent moving between tabbed windows that never worked. Combustion (and by that I would probably suggest Smoke) are good for nodal compositing and those needs as is Nuke. If this is what you need, then the software exists to do those tasks, its just not made by Apple (Shake never was going to fit in it was old code and Apple wasnt making lots of cash of it).

I would love apple to build all my software but if it retains an open XML output then it is still as valid as when FCP4 launched those features, that these are out within a 3 month period of launch says a lot

[Herb Sevush]

“just because Motion isnt after effects is hardly a reason to diss it”

I’m not “dissing” Motion. I use it all the time. But the facts are that while it was totally written from scratch by Apple it is neither the market leader nor the trend setter in compositing. I see no reason to believe that just because Apple wrote FCPX from scratch it will achieve either of those states either. It might, but then again it might not. Apple’s track record in this area, application software, is not nearly as strong as their track record in consumer gadgets.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Daniel Frome]

[Bill Davis] “I must say that if you look over my writing here overall, I’m more often part of the minority than the majority. So in that sense, I believe my views help present a bit of “check and balance” to some running trends and that may contribute to a broader picture for the lurkers”

Huh? It’s the opposite. Your view is very extreme towards FCPX. The majority – aka, the greater number of people who edit video in a professional setting, give YOUR agressive forum proselytizing a more balanced picture. “Running trends” ? Oh c’mon, stop trying to win some kind of imaginary information war here. The majority of us are going to use whatever gets the job done in order to make a living. If we don’t use it… well, there’s probably a very good reason why – not because we’re involved in some kind of secretive pact to make Apple lose the NLE market. We really don’t care what logo flashes for 5 seconds before the program loads up.

[Michael Gissing]

Excuse me if I don’t base my business on marketing motherhood statements. Like Apple, I am prepared to boldly dump FCP for something new even though it has been successful for me in the past.

[Herb Sevush]

“Excuse me if I don’t base my business on marketing motherhood statements,”

I have no idea what this refers to.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf