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[Craig Seeman]

One of the questions I asked Evan was his thoughts about any further attempt by Apple to do FCPX marketing. He thought they wouldn’t.

I had heard elsewhere from someone who had talked to people at Apple that there’s some chance they may do some sort of road show but that person wasn’t that certain to what extent that effort would materialize with any force.

Some odd observations was that Apple didn’t do their usual home page feature when it was released. Others have noted that you wont see it (yet at least) on any computer in an Apple Store and noted I didn’t see it on a Tekserve display computer either.

If Apple really thought this was a “prosumer” step up from iMovie, I think it would get a bigger marketing push. If they think it’s a professional app still under development it better explains why Apple is going to quietly move this forward, advancing the feature set.

iMovie is Quicktime based and FCPX is AV Foundation based so, beyond some partial GUI similarity, it’s not the same code base at all.

It’s interesting that there are so many sane voices who have dug into the software and see significant merit despite it’s feature immaturity and others who seem to be vested in ridiculing the software. Regardless of one’s sentiment as well all have our tool preferences, it seems they don’t handle change very well. That kind of thinking is not good business whether a facility, mom and pop, freelancer.

[Geoff Dills]

[Craig Seeman] “others who seem to be vested in ridiculing the software.”

And quite a few of those are the faces I see at the top of the page. Gentlemen, with all due respect cause I know how badly you must feel, but how much more needs to be said? We all get it. It’s iMovie. It sucks. Apple blew it. Can we move along now?

Best,
Geoff

[Craig Seeman]

That so many spend so much time ridiculing speaks to an emotional mindset.

The rest of us are spending time analyzing the program and how functions impact and influence the creative process.

Some people want to learn how it works functionally. Others want to grasp the whys behind the design which admittedly cause one to take a new look at approaches.

There are others though who might be better served spending their time learning Avid or Premiere if that’s their preference. There’s nothing constructive beyond maybe personal therapy in complaining.

Maybe in some sense I have a different definition of professional than others. It’s not even about making money or business. A professional is one who is committed to professing who they are in what one does. We are artists and craftspeople who chose to do this for a living because . . . it is something within us that got us here rather than being accountants or stock brokers, etc. I use the tools that will best achieve that end. I don’t use the tools that don’t serve me.

There is a lot going on here that I, personally would not describe as professional. They are some that are more greatly vested in complaining about another’s tools. To me, that’s not professional at all.

As crafstpeople and creatives, certainly we may analyze and critique the tools but the focus is ultimately how to best use them or find the tools that best suits us individually. That’s not what I’m seeing in the behavior of many of the posts here. Sorry if my opinion offends some. The COW should be a place where professional can share thoughts, mentor some, inspire others, make as better craftspeople . . . because it is what we profess.

[Bill Davis]

Don’t know why this sprang to mind…

but some years back I was video taping a group counseling session dealing with a popular “youth in crisis” discussion for parents. – and one of the therapists posed the classic question to the assembled group of parents: “what’s the opposite of love” – of course half a dozen voices popped up instantly with the expected answer: “hate” – only to draw a patiently waiting response from the group leader. Then a quiet voice in the group said the word that finally caused the therapist to smile.

“indifference”

In relationships, love and hate are poles that BOTH demonstrate exceptional engagement.

In that respect, FCP-X is nowhere more successful than right here in this Cow forum. And every voice that tears it down OR pumps it up – does nothing more or less than build its’ stature.

That EVERYONE is obsessing about what it is and isn’t means it’s clearly skyrocketed to the kind of industry cultural mind-share that means it has already become central to the entire modern editing discussion in a way that no other software program EVER has.

Like it or don’t – feel Apple was right or wrong with their process – it’s another inarguably HUGE home run in the business battle to create an undeniably “top of mind” brand identity.

And lest you think that it in any way hurts the brand that people are saying “negative” things about it – remember that both sinners AND saints are culturally singular for their distance from the disinterested norm – NOT for which pole they occupy in their singularity.

For what it’s worth.

“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’Conner