[Tim Wilson]

I think (hope?) Bill was being facetious. I didn’t go all the way back, but the bricks and mortar stores haven’t been part of the definition for years. The focus is on the stuff that Apple has innovated in, and for all that their stores are shiny, they’re no more innovative than the Bang & Olufson stores that popped up in the 80s. Apart from the color scheme, their design aesthetic is virtually identical.

So I wouldn’t expect the stores to show up in the description, ever, nor would I expect the stores to go away, ever.

Kremlinology is fun, but Kremlinologists are by definition looking for shadows that may not be there. They all eventually go insane too.

[Tim Wilson]

[David Mathis] “Any chance of a Fusion forum returning? “

Absolutely! We were always fans of fusion here at the COW, and at one time had a thriving community for it. We did what we could to feature its use in projects as well.

I’m really glad that it’s going to have Blackmagic’s energy behind it. They really breathed life into color grading in a way that entirely eclipsed what Color, or for that matter, the first incarnation of Davinci had ever done. It’s going to be fun to see if their acquisition of Fusion redefines the relationship between node-based compositing and the work of hundreds of thousands of artists, instead of a small handful.

I honestly can’t imagine it displacing After Effects or even other node-based compositing environments like Nuke for anyone already using them, but robust, accessible tools inevitably enrich creative possibilities. I want to see what’s next when Blackmagic lights this one up.

[Tim Wilson]

[Shawn Miller] ” I agree with you. :-)”

I should have mentioned that I was speaking rhetorically, and not thinking I was refuting any of your points. Not at all. I agree with you. Whatever this story ISN’T, what it IS is still amazing.

[Tim Wilson]

[Shawn Miller] “I’m really interested to see what integration will look like between Resolve and Fusion.”

Integration, yes. Merging, I can’t imagine even a little.

Although the list of things BMD has done that I wouldn’t have imagined is pretty long.

For one, the two products are from different companies. It takes a lot longer than you’d think to sort that sort of thing out. More important though, despite the fact that are some people who need multiple tasks, Media Composer is never going to have Pro Tools “inside,” any more than FCP had Motion “inside” or Premiere jas After Effects “inside.” Merging codebases is hard enough. Merging interfaces is impossible. You’d have to bury things so deep that a modal interface would be the only solution, at which point you sacrifice flexibility and efficiency on all kinds of levels.

I know that there’s a lot of excitement about anything free, and BMD’s aggression in general, but node-based compositing has nothing to do with motion graphics. Even if it works as your new greenscreen tool of choice, it’s not going to be useful for much of anything else related to mainstream non-keying After Effects work that editors are doing.

Not to diminish the excitement of this. Fusion has always deserved more attention than it has gotten, and more resources than eyeon has been able to put into it. No disrespect intended. Small companies have limits, and nobody is better at pushing those limits than BMD. If BMD invigorates node-based compositing the way that they did color grading with Resolve, then all bets are off…

….unless you’re betting on fusion or even Nuke as a realistic long-term alternative for motion graphics or most editors’ current approach to compositing and effects. In which case, I’ll happily take that bet, and I’ll spot you the points. Easy money. The reefs are rich with the bones of those who thought they could plunder the good ship After Effects, which indeed Fusion has never tried to do.

[Tim Wilson]

[Walter Soyka] “[Steve Connor] “People like to like things, there’s a culture around sports teams that drives plenty of people crazy too.”

People like to dislike things, too. Again, see this forum and culture around sports teams.”

And people like to dislike people who do the exact same things THEY do, except they do it for the other team. Nobody thinks a New York Yankee fan is more obnoxious than a Red Sox fan, and vice versa. It’s the nature of great rivalries.

That said, there are definitely some fans who are obnoxious by nature, and often revel in it. Pick any (or all) of a dozen different Philadelphia stories, starting with booing Santa Claus.

I think we can also all think of somebody outside the world of sports whose vociferous fandom feels like it’s that intense for the sole purpose of causing disquiet in non-fans. Or likewise, people overstating their non- or anti-fandom for the same reason.

I’m most certainly not thinking of anyone here when I say that.

Or am I?

My point was that I don’t have any issues with someone finding either fandom or non-fandom obnoxious. Both definitely can be, and, kidding aside, I think it really is more common around phones than computing platforms or even FCPX.

[Tim Wilson]

[JP Pelc] “Well whatever you want to call it there is this culture surrounding Apple that drives me crazy”

You’ll note that I didn’t disagree with you on that 🙂 ….

…and which we have also created a forum for people to explore every possible angle on the matter. LOL

[Tim Wilson]

My antipathy for Apple can be seen from outer space.

But I don’t agree AT ALL that Apple PR is manufacturing excitement. Can’t be done. All PR can do is place stories and try to manage their content. Your example of 2 new features on stage is actually on the nose: that’s not PR. It’s a dude on stage. Make of it whatever you will, but there’s no message to manage. It is what it is.

I say this as a guy whose company included a bustling PR business, worked with both corporate and agency PR as an industry writer, and from inside major companies as both a message generator and someone with direct responsibility for interacting with both corporate and agency PR, and press, on outbound messaging. Even in a room full of confetti and balloons and a cheering throng, putting a guy on stage, no matter how well-managed and rehearsed, is a crap shoot. You simply can’t control response. Print is way, way easier.

But I do think that messaging has always been a core value at Apple, maybe moreso than any company in history. The message IS the product. To the extent that their messaging strategy is shifting, it represents a shift in Apple’s core values. That’s a big deal, whether you like Apple or not….

…because we could get into a whole ‘nother conversation about how Apple drives even the behavior of non-customers. In fact, we could start a whole forum about it.

In fact, we did. LOL

[Tim Wilson]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “Since you’ve raised the issue, here’s some of the things I found surprising (or didn’t know):
“

Saying that “Apple is a business” implies that all businesses do it this way, or all successful business do it this way, or all businesses should do it this way…or something similar….

…none of which is true. None. There are as many different approaches as there are businesses. Apple has been typically described as closed, verging on hostile. Hearing specifics of Tim Cook’s view of such things — that that HAD been the case, and is increasingly no longer the case — is the definition of news.

Learning how much of their PR is handled in-house, I was also struck by how small their PR team is. That TC took a machete to that group is, once again, the definition of news.

Of course, another definition of “news” is that somebody knew this, because it actually happened — but I’ve certainly not seen it mentioned here, or anywhere else on the web.

So please, no poo-pooing this as non-news without discussing what of this has been previously reported, and not just surmised. I see a bunch in this article that not only flies in the face of previous assumptions, but also provides details that I sincerely doubt have ever been published before. I invite anyone to please point to specifics where this isn’t the case.

I think this article is a big deal: an unprecedented look at one of the most distinctively characteristic dynamics within an uncharacteristically distinctive organization.

I know that facts are considered to have virtually no value these days, especially with regards to news. But I’d like to think that actual newsgathering could still be acknowledged as such, and not dismissed without an equivalent amount of actual research, and a relevant weight of actual facts to the contrary.

Not that any of it intended to change anything you do with regards to Apple in your life, or how you feel about it. Maybe it’s my bizarre and increasingly out of step attachment to facts, but I think there’s value to knowledge for its own sake, apart from actions or feelings. I like knowing stuff, and I learned some stuff from this.

[Tim Wilson]

[Franz Bieberkopf] “Points or Tangents: The Debate”

Sorry about any unintended racist overtones of the previous name….but this one feels redundant: I don’t think there’s any debate that we’re constantly going off on tangents to make our points.

Now if only somebody could put something along those lines in their sig, I think we’ll be all set.

The search continues….

[Tim Wilson]

[Paul Neumann] “Slopes or Points: The Debate”

FINALLY a workable suggestion for a new name….