New Broom Sweeps Clean?

The Broom in Question

There’s quite  a lot of chatter going on at the minute regarding Apple’s new software Final Cut Pro X.

It’s an interesting thing… There are those professionals that are adamant that it is an incomplete update – that because it has certain habits, and certain limitations that it cannot be called a Pro application. Maybe it should be called Final Cut X (losing the pro moniker.)

Now, I personally dont use video software other than iMovie HD, but I feel quite limited by it. I have a an impression that this is caused by my early use of Photoshop, and other “complicated” software from early on. With that said, I will be one of the first to say that I don’t have the ability to give a very good review of whether the “pro” argument is right or wrong, I’ll list what I find interesting.

It runs in 64-bit, which should mean fast performance, and as mentioned it will take advantage of the software architecture foundation that has been laid in Leopard and Lion. But it will not run on a non-Intel chip Mac. This may cause headaches for some people that I know. For example, if you have 2 G5 Towers, and you want to edit video, the pricing and liscencing from the Mac App Store allows you to purchase the software once, but it will not run on those computers. So in order to use £180 software, new computers have to be bought? I suppose it can be argued that the previous cost of two copies of FCP would be expensive enough to make this an option, but let’s be realistic, it’s a lot of dough to drop on hardware. Of course Apple wants everyone to buy more and newer Macs, and the G5 chips are quite long in the tooth, but nonetheless, a tricky prospect.

Apple has released a software that seems to be highly capable. It is priced extremely aggressively. It will take advantage of the improvements in OSX Lion when it is released as well. They have managed to price like a “low baller” but with high (apparently) quality work.

As an aside, why are there no real iPod / iPad competitors at the same (or cheaper) price point? They have been steam-rolled by a company that has such a command over the process and the price of components that Apple can still sell their products at a price that is both competitive and profitable.

Back to Final Cut. WIll I buy it? Probably. Because it seems to be complete and feature filled enough to work with the system that I am interested in using (Canon 7d DSLR), but also inexpensive (and convenient) enough to take a punt. And I think this is where the rub is for many  of the pros… It seems to be an enough application. Good enough to work for lots, and lots of people. Lots more than if the software was to stay at the price point it was before. And in the time that Apple is working on adding extra features that will bring it back on a par with the last generation of Final Cut Pro, the additional sales will be a great sweetener for them.

The biggest niggle for me, which has both grown and waned in the last months/years, is that there seems to be a gradual decline of Apple’s interest to cater for the professional market. When I say professional, I do mean those people that are working in print, in audio, in design, in video. It could well be that my perception is mistaken, or perhaps that the level of Apple’s interest is the same as it always was, but because of the massive increase of consumer level products, it is a perceived lack of interest. Not a nice side-effect. (Also, it should be mentioned that much of Apple’s “consumer” level is of a high standard I believe.)

In the past, it was a factor that it was those hardcore professionals that kept the Apple train moving when they were so close to going under, but that was more than 10 years ago. And the Cupertino company has had some excellent growth since then. Should we still think in terms of the original hardcore loyalists? I’m not so sure anymore.

So in the end, what seems to be the problem?

As with most of these little arguments and issues, I think it comes down to a twin case of both perceptions and semantics. Probably, Apple ought not to have pushed this software so hard as the fully featured and ready-to-go replacement for Final Cut Pro. But all those current users whose existing version of FCP, probably ought to be able to reason with themselves, that their copy of the software still works. And for such a cheap replacement, probably they can afford to take the risk, get used to the software which will be a de-facto standard, and when it becomes as feature rich as the previous version of FCP, take the leap. It might be a good time to get ready for the clean break.