Why abandon FCP7 now?

[Bret Williams]

If one view is paranoia, the other is denial.

[Shawn Miller]

“Similarly configured Xeon workstation-class machines form PC vendors are actually more expensive that the Mac Pro”

Some are more expensive (like HP and BOXX)…. smaller integrators like Bold Data Systems (https://www.boldata.com/workstations) will build comparable machines at a lower price than Apple, and they give you a wider variety of choices for video cards and CPU.

Thanks,

Shawn

[Richard Cardonna]

If you have nothing intelligent to say don’t say anything.

[Gary Huff]

[Chris Kenny]So, in other words, your answer is “unfounded paranoia about Apple’s future actions”.

It’s not unfounded paranoia. One has to make guesses on what Apple might possibly see its future as considering how the company shrouds itself in silence and mystery.

I have been a Windows guy for all my life and just purchased my first MacBook Pro. I really like it, but if Apple decides their future is iOS only, then I have to decide whether I can work with an editor that relies on a touch interface and make an informed decision, instead of being stuck with expensive hardware that is no longer supported by the company.

That’s not paranoia…that’s good business.

[Chris Kenny]

[Gary Huff] “I have been a Windows guy for all my life and just purchased my first MacBook Pro. I really like it, but if Apple decides their future is iOS only, then I have to decide whether I can work with an editor that relies on a touch interface and make an informed decision, instead of being stuck with expensive hardware that is no longer supported by the company.”

As of today, as far as we know, Microsoft, with Windows 8, has more ambitious touch plans on the desktop than Apple. Now, this may very well be solely because they tend to talk about things three years in advance, whereas with Apple you get maybe six months warning. But, again, as of right now, there is absolutely no public indication that Apple is going to move to touch-only systems.

In fact… that would be incompatible with the hover-based scrubbing that’s a major new feature of FCP X. (Well, unless they move to touch systems that can detect hovering, but that would still be kind of awkward, I think.)

—
Digital Workflow/Colorist, Nice Dissolve.

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[Cliff Stephenson]

There’s no such thing as unfounded paranoia when it comes to protecting your livelihood. I’ve been on the precipice of switching over to Premiere Pro since late last year (when I actually bought the software), but was sticking it out because Apple was promising something “amazing.” Not only did they fail to deliver, but they failed in a way that seemed to be intentionally insulting to professional editors. So, yeah, had Final Cut Xpress not been released, I would have switched over nearly a year ago.

[Joseph Owens]

Well, I was thinking about SHAKE, which has come up a couple of times in the “conversation”.

Yes, it still does run under Leopard and Snow Leopard. It did break once, when Apple flipped the ‘endian-ness’ for 10-bit processing and at that point, we couldn’t do anything in the program with Pro
Res. A 4.1 fix did get issued, so EOL is not necessarily total… however, I do still have to go through the entire process if a reinstall is required. (reallly? who needs to re-install Apple software?)

Why use that old dinosaur app (SHAKE?)…. because its sophisticated.

jPo

You mean “Old Ben”? Ben Kenobi?

[Richard Cardonna]

I do not understand these guys. If they have no need for what is missing in fcpx good for them. But why can they understand that many do need those missing tools.

Why do they accuse some as paranoid when these see a clear and documented trend and not themselves as delusional when they base their facts on loyality and hearsay?

Have they nothing better to do than wave flags at apple?

Richard

[Gary Huff]

[Chris Kenny]As of today, as far as we know, Microsoft, with Windows 8, has more ambitious touch plans on the desktop than Apple.

Microsoft in no way has the same track record of breaking compatibility like Apple does. Of course, there’s always a first time, but Microsoft usually bends over backwards with Windows to make sure it can run older software.

[Pierre Jasmin]

Best Hypothesis I heard: (from a Lion seed tester)
FCP7 will work with Lion but most probably not the current “rosetta required” installer. (no rosetta in Lion)
– i.e. you might NOT be able to run on a new mac (like the rumored upcoming 16 core) unless Apple releases a new installer.

I know it’s just a god damn installer…

Did Apple said there would be a new installer for FCP? No.
Will it hurt the upcoming workstation release if they don’t. Yes.
Will they do it? Dunno at this point, they seem to have lost it.
Will you see on some blog that “someone at Apple said” that FCP7 works under Lion. Yes.
Will ChrisK say every 3 mails on this list to hold on and wait before we speculate otherwise? 🙂 – sorry I could not resist…

Pierre