[Herb Sevush]

[Aindreas Gallagher] “yep, that’s the comment of the year.”

Praise from the prophet. On the other hand, the year has just begun.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

Got my LTO 5 yesterday, backed up my first 1.2 Tera and I’m just waiting for more tapes to arrive so I can back-up my whole raid. Ended up getting the Tolis BRU server software and while I won’t say it’s a snap to use, with a little hand holding from Tolis tech support it’s been great.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their invaluable assistance.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

[Steve Connor] “The car crash that was the FCPX launch happened 9 months ago, why are you still spending your valuable time here and what are you getting from it?”

But I’m not here, I’m skating to where here is going to be so I can be there before here ever turns into there.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

[Craig Seeman] “That’s assuming you believe they will stay true to the roadmap. As I’ve pointed out (elsewhere) roadmaps are often not followed.”

I will take my chances with possibly unreliable information rather than no information. I like the illusion of some control, even in it’s absence. There’s nothing like the silent treatment to end a relationship.

With Apple it’s not just that they provide no roadmaps, they also are not interested in customer input. There’s no sensation of any communication in either direction.

Obviously there are plenty of people who have no problem with this type of situation, and I don’t expect Apple to change for me, but after the screwing last June I’m shopping around for someone who at least seems to be interested in my business. What this means is that if their are no new MacPro boxes out by May, I won’t be waiting around to see what they do in the summer.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

[Craig Seeman] “HP may lose potential customers so it may not be good for them.”

How could they loose customers? If Tbolt is important to your work flow, your not going to be a customer of theirs no matter what. The only difference is they haven’t kept you waiting and guessing. So while you won’t be a customer for a current workstation, you also won’t have a negative connotation about them and you won’t have any problem being a customer of theirs for a product that does fit your workflow.

[Craig Seeman] “Alternately HP changes course due to market conditions and then you feel betrayed (and may be impacted economically) by making a decision based on information that turned out differently.”

Precisely why I want the plan announced publicly; with a public deceleration they will be more likely to fulfill it, knowing the PR consequences. Nothing can protect you totally from getting screwed, but this public pressure does increase the likelihood of a better outcome.

If Microsoft lays out a plan and then doesn’t follow thru, they have to acknowledge the failure and deal with the fallout. Apple just shrugs and says, “hey we never promised you a rose garden” and avoids all responsibility. Who has more pressure to deliver in that situation, which way do you have better odds?

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

[Craig Seeman] “revealing a roadmap isn’t always a great “selling point” unless one likes the roadmap revealed. I certainly can’t speak for others but HP saying they won’t support Thunderbolt is just one such example for me.”

But that’s just the point, if you know that HP isn’t using TBolt and if that’s important to your workflow, you can then make an informed decision. When I ask a question I can’t expect every answer to be yes, but I can expect to get an answer.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

[Steve Connor] “It’s not as if Apple have suddenly become like that, they have always been like it. That hasn’t stopped a large amount of us buying Mac Pros in the past.”

I might suggest that staying the same as the world changes might not be the best policy. What might have been acceptable once is often not acceptable now.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

[Jeremy Garchow] “Most things they have EOLd, they’ve announced. Final cut studio being the exception, but even then they had a replacement. I’m not saying its a suitable replacement, but it is a replacement via Apple’s eyes.”

To the extent that the future is unknowable and that we are all in a constant state of flux I understand what your saying. Just because a company lays out a “plan” it’s not much of an assurance that the plan, or the company, is going to be there in a few years.

However …

Apple is a company that prides itself on NOT listening to it’s customers; it wears that indifference as a badge of honor, they see it as a virtue. Apple customers are not given a plan because it’s none of our concern – when they make something either take it or leave it. This leads to moments like the X rollout when only a Martian would have seen X as a “replacement” for Legacy at the time of the EOL, and i’m doing a disservice to our neighbors from the red planet.

Some of us prefer the illusion of concern. If I’m going to invest my money with you I want you to look me in the eye and lie to me, tell me that you value me. A plan may not be worth the paper it’s printed on, but it’s a worth a whole lot more than the promise you never made.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

[Tim Wilson] “will you buy a Mac without a roadmap?”

As I’ve already answered earlier, yes. Holding my nose, but yes.

The roadmap question was what would it take to make me trust Apple again. I don’t have to trust their long range plans to buy a short range solution. My next computer might be a Mac, as I transition away from Apple software. The computer after that will most definitely NOT be a Mac, unless I’m given reason to change my mind.

[Tim Wilson] “Or, is a weak-enough Mac Pro release (new processor, Thunderbolt, not much else) enough to give someone permission to do what they WANT to do anyway”

If Apple can’t give me a workstation that takes full advantage of both PPro and Avid, then I’m off to WinTel land. As always, software drives the hardware decisions.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf

[Herb Sevush]

[Andrew Richards] ” Does the workstation transform back into what it was in the 90s- a specialty box that you only use for a few limited purposes?”

That’s my guess, with Linux the OS. I think this is going to happen for any serious computational work, not just media. For those who need to work on something more niche than spreadsheets or word processing, the days when we could piggy back on the cost savings of mass consumer markets is coming to an end.

Herb Sevush
Zebra Productions
—————————
nothin’ attached to nothin’
“Deciding the spine is the process of editing” F. Bieberkopf