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we’re gathered around a very small pond.
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[Richard Cardonna] “Maybe avid should go the editshare way. giveout the app and sell the hardware.”
I’d really think if done right that might be part of the answer. I’ve also felt that releasing Avid Free (remember that?) was smart and they dropped it. It could have been their iMovie. The principle idea is use software to sell hardware. If Avid’s business model is selling hardware they really need to consider how to pursue that. They could try the backend approach. Buy Unity and/or Isis and get an unlimited license for Media Composer. More MCs the more potential demand for storage. Maybe they think they’ve headed in that direction with a $2500 MC but that’s what drove them into this unviable “middle” (no where land?) between high end hardware and loss leading software.
Supporting and developing the software without the hardware sales sinks them further (so it seems). That they protected sales and marketing only (from what I understand) from the 200 layoffs sound like it may well be just that. Obviously sales and marketing sell the hardware though. This still leads me to believe they have to use the software to sell hardware if they are to survive.
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“craig, why are you and i the only visionaries on these forums.”
Wow……
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[Oliver Peters] “I think you are being REALLY optimistic. Apple has yet to make any software that takes advantage of more than a quad-core machine.”
If Apple is looking at web delivery in the post workflow and given what H.264 compression takes, I have to think the cores are going to be needed.
In one sense it may be that the ProRes codec is a bit of a ball and chain at the moment since it doesn’t take advantage of all the cores and I have to think that’s one of the behind the scenes things that may be happening as FCPX progresses. The whole encode, decode, encode workflow has to be very very fast.
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[kim krause] “so what you’re really saying is their greed and poor management are the real problem. they tried to take advantage of a situation and karma is now biting them in the ass..”
Unfortunately Avid doesn’t have the luxury of doing what Apple has done over the past year or two and is continuing to do. Namely:
1. Eliminate enterprise hardware (Xserve, Xserve RAID, Mac Pro maybe?).
2. Eliminate enterprise software (FC Server).
3. Eliminate most of their content creation tools (Color, STP, DVD SP, Cinema Tools, FCP, FCE).
4. Throw their third-party ecosystem into turmoil.
5. Negate any built up skills that their prime editing users might have had (FCP 7 versus FCP X).
Avid has certainly made plenty of mistakes, but in this business, Apple has very quickly turned from a company, whose products were no-brainers, into one where the products are increasingly hard to justify. It’s different for individuals, but small to large production companies and post houses need suppliers with predictable consistency and that sure isn’t Apple.
Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Craig Seeman] “That’s right. I think the problem is Avid stuck themselves in an in between place and is failing at both. I wonder if CMX’s history is an analogy although maybe not exactly.”
In a sense, the same is true as a mirror for the economics of running post facilities these days. People are surviving and even thriving at both ends of the spectrum. If you are in the middle and an all-purpose shop, it’s hard to stay in business. Just look as established post houses continue to go into bankruptcy.
– Oliver
Oliver Peters Post Production Services, LLC
Orlando, FL
http://www.oliverpeters.com -
[Aindreas Gallagher] “yep.
god please let them bat PPro 6 cleanly out of the park.
“It won’t help you Aindreas, Avid is in your future whether you like it or not 🙂
Let’s see what MC6 brings when they officially announce this week, the transition may not be as bad as you think.
“My Name is Steve and I’m an FCPX user”
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[kim krause] “craig, why are you and i the only visionaries on these forums. i really think most people are so thick they can’t see the writing on the wall. by the sound of it they all want to continue working on clunky old towers loaded with cards for this and that, working with software that hasn’t changed in years except for small upgrades in suites that only get rebuilt once every 5 years.”
Kim, it seems you and I have different business models which are both highly dependent on continuous technological improvement.
Since I’m one of the tower guys, though, you assume that I lack a vision of the future? Has it occurred to you that we “old guard tower dinosaurs” might have a plan, too?
Every year, as computers get faster, tower dinosaurs use them to deliver increasingly sophisticated visuals to their clients. With more processing power every year, tower dinosaurs can deliver better visuals in the same amount of time, or a larger quantity of comparable visuals in the same amount of time, or the same quantity of comparable visuals in a shorter amount of time. Tower dinosaurs channel improved computing performance into added value.
Every year, as computers get smaller, you use them to… move from editing in a dedicated room to editing with a laptop in a coffee shop? Then to editing with your iPad on the couch? How does that add value? Or are you finding that it doesn’t actually add value, forcing you to lower your rates and take on a larger volume of work?
Miniaturization comes at the cost of performance. Yes, today’s laptop outperforms yesterday’s workstation — but today’s workstation outperforms today’s laptop.
You are pushing for HD editorial on an iPad — but HD editorial has been doable on a workstation for a decade. How does getting the last decade’s deliverable from a smaller device make you a visionary?
Walter Soyka
Principal & Designer at Keen Live
Motion Graphics, Widescreen Events, Presentation Design, and Consulting
RenderBreak Blog – What I’m thinking when my workstation’s thinking
Creative Cow Forum Host: Live & Stage Events -
[Walter Soyka]You are pushing for HD editorial on an iPad — but HD editorial has been doable on a workstation for a decade. How does getting the last decade’s deliverable from a smaller device make you a visionary?
I bet he won’t ever edit on an iPad (in its current and foreseeable incarnations), other than playing around with it for a few minutes.
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[Oliver Peters] “I don’t disagree and I don’t have a solution”
Plug and play. Cost. And support.
Every mbox I have owned has been a disaster of epic frustration.
I understand it’s a monumental task to bridge everything. But at least get the effin basics down. Port some connection options from even last years model away from firewire. Have a more robust set/up feature set. Get into the Jobs mentality where my grandmother can not only connect the bloody things properly, but have a complete troubleshooting and dummy proof blahdy blah…
Bring the cost down to 300$ for a box, give a more robust version of protools…16 tracks? No 5.1? Wth…
Just some thoughts on getting these bigger ticket items out the door and keep or improve on their user base.
If dropping the price doesn’t cut the mustard, at least make it much more user friendly and stable. My box seems to have a life of it’s own and it’s not even 8 months old…
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[kim krause] “i really think most people are so thick”
Irony is ironic.
Eat more fish. I recommend wild salmon
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