And read the comments too. If Pogue was an employee of Apple I'd be proud of him for fighting so hard. As a journalist at the NYTimes, its kind of embarrassing for him and the Times.
I really don't understand this sentiment. Pogue has access to insider information that he's sharing with interested readers. People want to know the answer to these questions.
Actually, I think he provides a pretty awesome rosetta stone for those upgrading. It's not perfect, as he acknowledges, but it sure helps a lot of people who make the transition.
Yeah! This is great journalism and what blogging is all about.
On the one hand, you have a bunch of upset film editors complaining about the upgrade with their laundry list of complaints. Unlike every other journalist in the industry, who just report the list, Pogue actually studies each and every complaint and reports on whether it's actually valid or not--from a technically adept position--and concludes that he understands why people are upset but that a lot of their claims are debunkable.
and concludes that he understands why people are upset but that a lot of their claims are debunkable.
I'd argue that he does something far different. He spins the claims. In some cases, as noted in the comments, he seems to react to the wrong issue or provides solutions that aren't adequate.
It's just odd that as a reporter my first inclination wouldn't be to diminish the outrage of professional editors, but rather to fully understand them.
He took tweets and composed a list. But it doesn't appear that he actually said, "OK, let me follow-up with people at Sony and NBC and understand these issues and write a post detailing the issues and getting a detailed response from Apple". It appears he took the tweets and worked on trying to debunk OR downplay the issues. To me this is advocacy. Which I might expect from John Gruber (although honestly, I can't find a post of his even with this much effort in advocacy) but not from a journalist.
This guy really doesn't understand what all the noise about FCPX is and what film and broadcast practices are. In that regard, I really do not understand why he wrote that article at all. It's as if I wrote an article on organic chemistry since I once read about it on wikipedia. I wrote about what FCPX vs FCP means to me here: http://news.ycombinator.org/item?id=2695610
I don't understand why all these professionals are upset with Apple about FCP X. Do Not Upgrade(R). Stay on FCP 7.
Your linked post seems much more down-to-earth and level-headed than the complaints I keep seeing everywhere. If all these professionals would hold off purchasing the new version (and I suppose they will with all the negative feedback from those who have already purchased), then Apple will feel the repercussions in lack of sales.
I don't understand why all these professionals are upset with Apple about FCP X.
i think it's a combination of two things. First, obvious lack of pro features we need - even the basic ones. Second, Apple/FCP development/release cycles were known to be really slow and lacking in feature compared to competing products. This amplified the lackluster release that is FCPX IMO, since - I presume - lots of FCP guys felt let down by Apple, expectations were high, delivery was below low.
Do Not Upgrade(R). Stay on FCP 7.
On the other hand, people will stay on FCP7, of course. But, if you've read my post you'll remember that productions are budgeted and organized well in advance, and people are buying/will soon buy new pipelines for future products. Apple is not selling FCP7/Studio anymore, so people immediately start looking in other directions - even if they don't jump the ship right now.
His final words on the subject (from the next blog post):
"Having read through hundreds of comments from professionals, both civil and uncivil, I’m now convinced: Final Cut Pro X may indeed be ready for the future. But for professional video editors, it’s not yet ready for the present."
I honestly can't fathom what the problem with FCP X is. If there really are things missing, stick with FCP7 and keep an eye on FCPX updates. And if FCPX has everything you need, upgrade.
I've got a few years video editing experience under my belt (less and less in these days unfortunately). I'm not amateur, nor would I be comfortable calling myself a professional, but from where I'm sat, FCPX looks like a huge step forward. I'm willing to be a guinea pig for a little while if it's for genuine, radical progress.
>recognize that there’s no obligation to switch from the old program yet,
This is the whole takeaway of the article. As an iOS dev who still has Xcode 3.X for some clients, I am thinking "wtf are these professionals DOING swapping to a newly refreshed apple software product. Use the old one until the new one is better!"
From my perspective it seems like Apple dropped FCP and is using the iMovie codebase. I don't think it is a matter of dropping Ancient technology more one of cutting production costs.
And the "Apple plans to have [that feature] in a future version" is a long standing practice... in a future version they will implement it, and then in a later version they will get it fixed so it is usable, etc.
From experience, I'd wait till FCP X.2 or something... when they actually get stuff complete and working.
17 comments
[ 4.3 ms ] story [ 53.5 ms ] threadOn the one hand, you have a bunch of upset film editors complaining about the upgrade with their laundry list of complaints. Unlike every other journalist in the industry, who just report the list, Pogue actually studies each and every complaint and reports on whether it's actually valid or not--from a technically adept position--and concludes that he understands why people are upset but that a lot of their claims are debunkable.
I'd argue that he does something far different. He spins the claims. In some cases, as noted in the comments, he seems to react to the wrong issue or provides solutions that aren't adequate.
It's just odd that as a reporter my first inclination wouldn't be to diminish the outrage of professional editors, but rather to fully understand them.
He took tweets and composed a list. But it doesn't appear that he actually said, "OK, let me follow-up with people at Sony and NBC and understand these issues and write a post detailing the issues and getting a detailed response from Apple". It appears he took the tweets and worked on trying to debunk OR downplay the issues. To me this is advocacy. Which I might expect from John Gruber (although honestly, I can't find a post of his even with this much effort in advocacy) but not from a journalist.
Your linked post seems much more down-to-earth and level-headed than the complaints I keep seeing everywhere. If all these professionals would hold off purchasing the new version (and I suppose they will with all the negative feedback from those who have already purchased), then Apple will feel the repercussions in lack of sales.
i think it's a combination of two things. First, obvious lack of pro features we need - even the basic ones. Second, Apple/FCP development/release cycles were known to be really slow and lacking in feature compared to competing products. This amplified the lackluster release that is FCPX IMO, since - I presume - lots of FCP guys felt let down by Apple, expectations were high, delivery was below low.
Do Not Upgrade(R). Stay on FCP 7.
On the other hand, people will stay on FCP7, of course. But, if you've read my post you'll remember that productions are budgeted and organized well in advance, and people are buying/will soon buy new pipelines for future products. Apple is not selling FCP7/Studio anymore, so people immediately start looking in other directions - even if they don't jump the ship right now.
"Having read through hundreds of comments from professionals, both civil and uncivil, I’m now convinced: Final Cut Pro X may indeed be ready for the future. But for professional video editors, it’s not yet ready for the present."
I've got a few years video editing experience under my belt (less and less in these days unfortunately). I'm not amateur, nor would I be comfortable calling myself a professional, but from where I'm sat, FCPX looks like a huge step forward. I'm willing to be a guinea pig for a little while if it's for genuine, radical progress.
This is the whole takeaway of the article. As an iOS dev who still has Xcode 3.X for some clients, I am thinking "wtf are these professionals DOING swapping to a newly refreshed apple software product. Use the old one until the new one is better!"
And the "Apple plans to have [that feature] in a future version" is a long standing practice... in a future version they will implement it, and then in a later version they will get it fixed so it is usable, etc.
From experience, I'd wait till FCP X.2 or something... when they actually get stuff complete and working.