[Chris Kenny]

You’re not really saying anything specific enough to engage with there. FCP X’s UI is, in my opinion, entirely suitable for professional editing. The app’s only real problem is that there are, by my count, four really important features missing:

1. A way to export sequence data.
2. More control over audio exports.
3. Support for third-party I/O hardware.
4. Multicam.

Of these four things, Apple has explicitly told various parties that they’re working on 1, 3, and 4.

This freak-out has more to do with what people imagine about Apple’s motivations than it does with FCP X’s potential for professional use.

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[Chris Kenny]

[Peter J. DeCrescenzo] “Are you saying Mr. Hodgetts didn’t tell the rest of us anything more than what many others told us soon after they purchased the app?

If the above is true, then what value are his comments compared to those of others? “

Apple has directly communicated with him about future plans. Also, his post implies he’d been told there would be XML exporting or an API to access sequence data or something before the release, which would mean this is just a feature that slipped at the last minute; hardly unusual in software development, and if Apple had thought a couple of months ago that it might be ready for the initial release, we might not have long to wait for it.

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[Chris Kenny]

[Herb Sevush] “If they thought it was important they would have worked it out. To say they couldn’t do it is ridiculous.”

It’s not especially ridiculous when you consider the differences in timeline behavior. And “If they thought it was important they would have worked it out” shows no understanding of the complexities of actual software development. A major product like this, especially an initial version, pretty much always ships while there’s still a long list of things the developers really wished they’d had time for.

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[Chris Kenny]

[Aindreas Gallagher] “Four features my arse Chris. The software is not fit for purpose.”

You hate the entire user interface. We get it. But your belief that the UI is unusable is not a fact, it’s an opinion, and one which others disagree with.

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[Chris Kenny]

[Peter J. DeCrescenzo] “You’re not comparing the poor decisions Apple made leading up to this week’s release of FCPX — as in, consciously went out of their way by spending millions of dollars to do it — comparing it to something like a probably accidental design flaw (or alleged design flaw) such as the iPhone antenna issue, are you? Seriously?”

About the only “poor decision” I see with respect to FCP X is that Apple shipped the initial version knowing it was missing some features pros needed, but didn’t communicate well about future plans.

[Peter J. DeCrescenzo] “Because, meanwhile the semi-smart folks at Adobe & elsewhere will continue to make significant gains in the marketplace, at Apple’s expense.”

You’re claiming this will ‘continue’, but you have no data to support that it’s actually occurring to any significant degree in the first place. I suspect most users are in fact taking a wait-and-see- attitude at this point, not scrambling to switch platforms.

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[Chris Kenny]

[Patrick Sheffield] “At the FCPUG in London the other night, reportedly the Apple representative stated that Apple is not interested in pursuing XML support…

Even David Pogue, speaking supposedly for Apple, said FCX would never support import of Final Cut Pro projects, and that Apple thought EDLs were crude and should be dropped.

How does that equate to adding back those features?”

Specific support for XML and EDL is not required if Apple provides an API to allow third-parties to directly access sequence data. Which from what they’ve told Pogue and Hodgetts seems to be the plan. Such an API would allow anyone to write an app or plug-in to export sequence data from FCP X in any format, and would almost certainly result in FCP X having a far more robust set of export options than FCP 7 ever had.

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[Chris Kenny]

[Sohrab Sandhu] “Freak-outs Like?”

OS X 10.0, Apple charging for the 10.2 update, Apple starting to charge for iTools when it became Mobile Me, Apple de-emphesizing type/creator codes in favor of file name extensions, Apple switching to Intel, Apple telling developers to write web apps for the iPhone (implying no native SDK), the iPhone 4 antenna mess, some App Store content sales terms of service changes made earlier this year, Apple using funny five point screws on iOS devices, the the iOS location cache issue, issues with installing replacement hard drives in new iMacs, and most recently Lion only being available for app store download.

I’m probably forgetting a few.

Some of these might sound fairly absurd, but every one of these issues has caused a fairly serious freak-out in one Internet community or another. You wouldn’t believe the long-term implications people can read into a Apple adopting a different kind of screw, or the things they’ll manage conclude about Apple’s motivations for doing so.

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[Chris Kenny]

[Peter J. DeCrescenzo] “Wait: I may have missed it (really, I may have), but did Philip H. publicize a list of FCPX’s “missing features” before it shipped?

If he did, I’m sorry I missed it.

If not, then Philip’s insider’s knowledge has no bearing on the subject at hand.”

Err… I’m not entirely sure what your point is here. Apple doesn’t appear to have told Hodgetts specifically what features were and weren’t in the release before it happened. However, they do seem to have briefed him on the day of the release, and they told him that while XML wasn’t there yet, it (or something to take its place) would be.

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[Chris Kenny]

[Peter J. DeCrescenzo] “If Apple has something to communicate to the adults who use their products professionally, why don’t they just come out and address them/us directly?”

If Apple choses to do this, they’ll take a week or two to formulate their response. That has been the pattern with things like the iPhone 4 antenna response and, more recently, the “My iPhone is tracking me!” silliness.

Talking through Pogue, etc. might seem like Apple being oddly coy, but it’s more openness than we usually see from Apple. Ditto for having people like Philip Hodgetts talk to FCP X team members before the app even shipped. Apple seems to understand they need to be a little more open with pro apps than with consumer stuff, at least during this transitional period, but I think they haven’t quite gotten the hang of it yet.

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[Chris Kenny]

[Aindreas Gallagher] “FCP was supposed to be the democratic answer, the embodiment of the craft. But sure of course apple couldn’t give two shites about us, our craft, or the basic tenets of editing itself. “

You don’t think this is a slightly… melodramatic way to react to the absence of about four features, which Apple has independently told several media outlets are being added back in?

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