Rumor: Apple axed 'evolutionary' 64-bit Final Cut Pro 8 for 'revolutionary' FCPX [u]
Richard Harrington, founder of RHED Pixel, said in a recent talk that Apple killed production of a 64-bit Final Cut Pro 8 after officials with the company were not satisfied with what they saw. Harrington's comments, discovered by fcp.co and highlighted by Cult of Mac, were made in reference to American University's decision to train its students in Final Cut Pro X.
"There was a Final Cut Pro 8, and it was 64-bit and it was done," Harrington said. "And they looked at it and said, 'This is not what we want to do. This is evolutionary, this is not revolutionary.' And they killed it."
Update: Harrington later provided clarification via Twitter, saying he did not hear the information first-hand, but rather that it was simply a rumor passed along with an off-hand comment.
"Comment was misunderstood," he wrote. "I just heard efforts were well underway then killed."
The video has since been pulled from the Web. But if the rumor is accurate, it's an indication that Apple originally considered following along the same path as Final Cut Pro 7, before it decided to take its professional video editing software in an entirely new direction.
Those considerable changes made in Final Cut Pro X rubbed many video professionals the wrong way when the new $299 software was released this June. Apple also worked quickly to release an update for Final Cut Pro X to add some of the most requested features, like Xsan and Rich XML support.
Apple has also promised that it will add multicam editing and broadcast-quality video monitoring to Final Cut Pro X in early 2012. The software has also been made available for a 30-day free trial to let professionals try before they buy.
The changes in Final Cut Pro X caused a significant controversy in the video editing and production business. The attention became so great that even comedian Conan O'Brien had a bit on his show poking fun at the new software.
Apple also responded to customer dissatisfaction by offering refunds, and the company even offered some customers the ability to buy the previous generation Final Cut Pro Studio with Final Cut Pro 7 for $999. Sales of Final Cut Pro Studio were made available only over the phone, and were said to be in "limited quantity" for customers who needed the older software for ongoing projects.
AppleInsider first reported in May of 2010 that Apple was scaling Final Cut Studio applications with a significant makeover that would better target Apple's mainstream "prosumer" customer base, rather than high-end professionals. After the public release of Final Cut Pro X, some in video editing circles began to deride the software with the name "iMovie Pro," referring to Apple's consumer-oriented video editing software, iMovie.
148 Comments
Just more evidence that Apple needs to split if they want to provide products to both professionals and consumers.
Just more evidence that Apple needs to split if they want to provide products to both professionals and consumers.
Im your typical dad who does slight video editing of basic vacations, etc. I like Final Cut Pro X better than 7 because I was more familiar with iMovie. But Apple obviously has made the move to consumer (i.e. Aperture and FCPX) and left Adobe to pick up the pros (i.e. Photoshop and Premiere). I definitely like FCPX vs Premier Elements. So they have my $ there. And my wife prefers Photoshop elements over Photoshop CS5 (and oddly- prefers iPhoto over Aperture 3).
Different strokes for different folks. I think it was a smart move by Apple as FCPX will sell more and they can't justify having two paid programs for video editing- even though it sucks for the FCP 7/8 fans.
When Apple was "Apple Computer, Inc." they were more concerned with making powerful Macintosh computers that were used by the publishing, graphic arts, film making, and other creative industries. The higher-end models even echoed some of the high-end workstation-class systems from NEXT. To have an G5 Tower used to be the mark of an accomplished power user. The Apple website would have a front page link to the Pro Story of the week, talking about some business or government or University that deployed a huge IT solution using Apple Pro software and Pro-level Macintosh systems.
Then Apple went consumer, got into making iPods and selling music, and iPhones, and had a whole ton of non-pros using their products, many of whom thought Macs were too difficult to switch to. So Apple worked on making Macs easier to switch to and even easier to work with those consumer products the non-Pros were buying.
Then, Apple became "Apple, Inc." They are getting way more money from non-Pros and pro-sumers than the actual Pros... and they've shifted.
Apple's target market went from University/IT/Creative Pros to middle-to-upper class households that drink Keurig Coffee while they use iPads to read books on their IKEA couch, pondering which wine to have with their Chicken & Gnocchi soup for dinner tonight, as their MacBook Pro is downloading the latest iTunes Movie Rental over 50MB broadband in the living room of a $150K house or $2000/mo apartment in the city, while their Ugg boots dry nicely in the corner beside their North Face winter coat.
^ True, but Ikea doesn't make good sofas
Courage is what make me respect Apple, more than ITs products.
Courage IS SO undervalued in techWorld.