[Marcus Moore]

[Jeremy Garchow] “I am hoping for feature updates in the NAB Supermeet Hostile Takeover Anniversary Edition v10.1.2 as well. I have a good feeling as major part of Apple hardware transition is now well underway.”

While I would love them to, I doubt we’ll see Apple back at the Supermeet. I don’t think the organizers would agree to those conditions again; and Apple isn’t seemingly willing to share the stage, so it’s an impasse.

I’m feeling pretty good about the possibility of a feature update with NAB in a couple weeks. I’m going to guess either April 1st or 8th if the pattern of Tuesday releases still holds. I’d also love Phiip Hodgetts to get some updated numbers from them on adoption/sales for X. Something we haven’t had a data point on since NAB 2012.

[Marcus Moore]

It does make me curious about the makeup of the FCPX dev team.

10.1 was certainly a bit of a restart, changing some very low level ideas around the file structure. If they decided that the new Library structure had to take priority above anything else (you have to do the foundation repair before you renovate that kitchen or add that den), then how many of those 20 people were involved in those code changes? How many of those people are UI designers, audio specialists, etc.. What were they doing during the last year? Did their work need to be held back until those Library changes got out the door in 10.1?

While Apple has updated FCPX the week before NAB for the last 2 years, neither of those updates (10.0.4 and 10.0.8) have been “feature” releases. So we’ll see what happens with 10.1.2- of course, I’m hoping for another feature update.

[Marcus Moore]

Pixelmator is regularly featured on the appStore, and was one of the apps on the MacPro test page.

I’d like to see X get support for one of these alternatives. Keep Adobe support definitely, but a non-subscription option would be great too.

[Marcus Moore]

I’ve owned Pixelmator for a while- got it during a sale price. I should really try to commit myself to doing some work in it. But can you bring in layered Pixelmator documents into FCPX and Motion?

[Marcus Moore]

I also struggle to find the value in my CC subscription. I use X and not Premier. I use Motion, and hardly ever AE anymore. So I’m basically paying $50/mo for Photoshop, Illustrator, and Acrobat.

Whenever Adobe contacts me I tell them I believe they need to be offering more varied pricing structures than $19.99 for one app or $49.99 for everything. If they don’t, I’ll be keeping my eyes very keenly on up and comers like Acorn or Pixelmator to satisfy my fairly conservative needs.

[Marcus Moore]

I don’t think you’re remembering what Philip said correctly.

EDIT. After doing a search- we had this exact same back and forth last year, Aindreas. The 20 number was NOT for all pro apps. JUST Final Cut Pro.

Here’s the link to the thread from last year-

https://forums.creativecow.net/readpost/335/52467

[Marcus Moore]

It had certainly been my contention that like OSX, FCP “X” was the brand under which the decade of Final Cut Pro development would happen. The open question for the last year had very much been whether 10.1 would be a paid upgrade or not. And while 10.1 itself was not as massive an update as many had figured, all the features added from 10.0.1 to 10.1 arguably supersede any single Legacy update. Adobe has likewise dropped the “one massive update a year” model, since they no longer need to drive upgrades with subscribers- perhaps Apple sees it the same way.

With 10.1 being free, and if we take the OP’s quote from the Apple rep at face value, then conceivably 10.1.2 thru 10.9.9 could be free to anyone who purchases X. As others have mentioned, Apple’s “subscription” is it’s hardware- on which it makes the best margins in the industry, and thru which it can keep users in it’s ecosystem (and more prone to buy iPads, iPhones, etc…) In the near term, I don’t see Apple giving away FCP X like they do iLife and iWork apps, but keeping the price the most competitive of the big 3.

Of course, they could stop at any point along the way, say 10.3.4 in a couple years, and release FCP XI as a paid update.

But I think we have a good few years on the FCPX gravy train before that, I think.

[Marcus Moore]

Right. I’d heard about that.

Will that support come within each app? Would it have to come in an FCPX update or is it part of the Apple Workflow Installer?

[Marcus Moore]

Until RED releases their updated GPU acceleration, machines with higher clock speeds will continue to win out here- the GPU simply isn’t doing much.

Let’s hope RED has something to say at NAB.

[Marcus Moore]

I agree. And honestly I think we got way better support with Philip Hodgetts. 7toX has been updated 34 times since it first launched in Jan 2012. Many times in direct response to user issues. There’s no way Apple could have responded that fast or frequently.