Steve Jobs: Thank you and goodnight

Since I heard the sad news about the passing of Steve Jobs I have been wanting to say something about how that man's vision and genius impacted upon my life. It's taken a few days, but the following sort of sums up my feelings. In 1988 I sat at a computer for the first time: some sort of PC running something called MS-DOS. I hated it. I'm a visual person - a right brainer - who is pretty much dyscalculic, and being faced with incomprehensible lines of code made me feel uncomfortable, inadequate and sick. At that time, aged 28, I thought that was it. I thought "If this is what computers are all about I'll stick with pencil and paper, thank you very much". Then in 1990 I was introduced to the Mac. Everything changed overnight. Suddenly the future wasn't so bleak - there was definitely sun behind those clouds. The Mac (and Apple) have changed my life in so many ways. I can't imagine my life without having had Apple around. The biggest single impact that Apple, under the leadership of Steve Jobs, has had is bringing the way we work out of the studio and onto the desktop. Desktop publishing (DTP) with programmes such as PageMaker and later QuarkXPress, both originally launched exclusively for the Mac; desktop drawing and design with Canvas, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop (launched in 1990 - again exclusively for the Mac - was an epiphany); and of course desktop video with Adobe Premiere and After Effects, Media 100 and, later, of course, Final Cut Pro. Of course there were other players in the marketplace, some using different platforms but, for me (and many others), Apple led the way, quickly becoming the dominant leader, with the others following their lead. One practical example of how this impacted on my workday stands out in my memory because it was the first time that impact had really hit home. I was working in the conference industry as a software producer (i.e. producing the visual and audio content for a show), in the late eighties/early nineties. At that time, if you looked closely and paid attention, you could definitely see the first shoots of the digital age and what was coming. We were just beginning to use computers to produce slides for presentations, and the computers of choice were - naturally - Macs.

We used a great programme called Aldus Persuasion, later to become Adobe Persuasion before it subsequently and sadly got knocked off its perch by the almighty Microsoft's  PowerPoint. This was the workflow: all the layout work was done on the Mac, then you copied your files to a floppy disc. That disc was then delivered to a processing house where the files would be processed onto 35mm film and then mounted as individual slides. All a bit long-winded and time-consuming compared to today's standards I know, but at the time it was a revelation. Prior to this we were physically doing the slide artwork at a desk using either Letraset dry-transfer lettering or pre-set type - literally "cut and paste" (where this now-familiar term derives from) - and then sticking the artwork under a rostrum camera to be shot onto 35mm film and then processed into slides. As my grandma used to say: what a palaver! To give some sense of scale as to the size of job it was producing a major presentation in those days: we would often have a bank of 36 (or more) rack-mounted slide projectors, each holding 80 slides in a carousel tray and there would often be a "tray change" or two during the show (from whence the term "slide-show"). That was a lot of slides and a heck of a lot of work. So to be able to produce these slides sitting at the Mac was a massive step.

I started editing video in the late eighties and first toyed with non-linear desktop editing with Adobe Premiere 2.0 on the Mac for a while during the early nineties but without much success - the technology was not yet there. Then in 1995 my employer invested in a Power Mac 9500 edit suite running Media 100.  If I remember correctly we had an external RAID of 72Gb - which at the time seemed a huge amount of storage - and at around £3000, quite costly too. But that was the turning point for me. I have not looked back. It's how I've earned my living from that point on. When Final Cut Pro launched in 1999 I was quick to jump aboard and despite the detractors in the early days, have done pretty well on it and have had the time of my life. Like so many others, I have built a career from working on Macs and will always be thankful that Steve Jobs happened along and feel lucky that I was around to benefit from this great man's unbounded genius. He was a genius but he was also a showman. I'm sure we all looked forward to his keynote speeches with some excitment. It was like watching a magician - you never knew quite what he was going to pull out of the hat. But whatever it was, it was always a bit of a wow moment. I shall miss that now that the curtain has dropped for the last time.

Photo: acaben via Flikr

Thank you Steve. May you rest in peace.
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FCP X - an update

So Apple has finally relented and succumbed to public pressure and the concerns of the pro user base ...a bit.

Not only have they released an update to v10.0.1 of FCP X, but are now offering a FREE 30-DAY TRIAL of the software! Since when have Apple ever offered anything free? That pressure must have weighed heavy.

This is what the App Store tells us:

"The update improves overall stability and performance and adds the following features: 

• Export audio and video stems as a single multitrack QuickTime movie or as separate files using Roles
• Import and export XML to support third-party workflows
• Place Projects and Events on Xsan to improve collaboration between editors
• Set custom starting timecode for projects
• Add transitions to connected clips in a single step
• Enable full-screen view in OSX Lion
• Speed up delivery with GPU-accelerated export"

What's more, Apple are promising multicam editing and broadcast-quality video monitoring are coming early in 2012. Things are definitely looking up.

The Loop goes into further details of the update here.

So this is all pretty good news, especially for those of us who had all but given up only a matter of weeks ago. That said, FCP X is still a long way from being where it ought to be. I think FCP 7 user will be sticking to what they're used to for a while yet - I certainly will be, while at the same time working my Premiere skills - as I mentioned in an earlier post.

More on that soon.
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FCP X - The Great Escape

I know - too much has already been written about the great FCP X debacle - but it would be remiss of me and I would be letting myself down if I did not at least pass comment on the recent Cupertino capers. But don't worry - I'll keep it short! (ish)

I'll get straight to the point: numerous colleagues have asked me recently what I thought about the whole debacle and what were my plans going forward. Up to now I have been so depressed and let down by the whole affair and its implications that I have not felt that I could add anything to the debate.. But since you ask: the whole thing sucks.

In this blog from March I suggested that when they eventually launched the new FCP there may the faintest possibility that Apple would bollox it up and deliver iMovie Pro. They did. Big time.

 

To me there are two areas of concern: firstly the software itself and how we, as professional editors who earn our keep - yes, our daily bread - the stuff that feeds our kids(!) - with FCP 7, can move forward. Secondly, and to my mind most worrying, and most upsetting - yes, that's an emotional word - but I feel that strongly let down by Apple - is the fact that Apple, in one fell swoop, said a great big, loud "F**k off!" to the pro community. It really is my gut feeling, after reading lots on the subject and "doing the math", that Apple no longer considers the pro community to be of any value, and they have dumped us. (I use the term "they" as opposed to "it" when referencing the organisation to emphasise how personally I take this whole thing). This, ironically, when it is we who have helped them get to the exalted and highly valuable position in which they now find themselves.

So to the software itself. I have not tried it. I have not downloaded it. To put what I write in context I have to say that. If I were writing a full review and analysis of the product then of course I would have done. But the reason I have not downloaded it is simply because it's not worth the £179.99 it would cost me to do so. I knew this within minutes of the launch - as soon as I realised there was no legacy path and no plans to reintroduce one. I can't think of a single job I have worked on in the past ten years that, at some time, has not needed revising, updating or re-versioning. It's as simple as that. My work practice does not allow me the option to switch to an untried and untested piece of software that I know is missing one of the most important functions I need: a legacy path. How would I explain that to my clients? They would love me, wouldn't they: "Yes of course we can update your programme, but I'll have to charge you an extra £10k to remake it first"!? FFS! This legacy issue is, in my opinion, the biggest sucker punch. Apple tells us that due to its "all-new project architecture" there is no way to "translate" FCP 7 projects to open in FCP X "without changing or losing data". And no indication from Apple as to how much data would be lost or to what extent it would be changed.

The other missing features for me pale into insignificance when you tell me I can't revise an old job. But if that problem were to be fixed then what about the fact that I can't share a project with another editor? Or how about the apparently toytown colour correction? Log and capture?…..The list goes on, you've read them elsewhere, you know what I'm talking about.

I did purchase Motion 5 however. At £29.99 it seemed a no-brainer. I love Motion. I cut my motion graphics teeth on AE and stuck with that until Motion 3, and although it was a struggle at first making the conversion I thought it was worth it for the FCP integration benefits. I'm now wondering about that decision when I see CS 5.5 at a 50% discount for FCP switchers…

For those who have the luxury of being able to wait there is yet hope. Apparently necessity is the mother of all invention - although it would be hard to qualify that considering how much tat gets produced these days - but let's assume it's a truism. I know that code monkeys the world over are coding away as I write and you read this, figuring out a way to get FCP 7 projects to open in FCP X and I'm positive it will happen. I guess, and in some way hope, there are others who are working on ways to get the other missing features back too. And good for them that they are, as Apple seemingly aren't going to bother. It's a fundamental human reaction to a problem - find a way around this. So it will happen.

But at the moment and as it stands, for me the software is unusable. For now I'll continue to use FCP 7, but as Apple are no longer fully supporting it (if at all), it will soon become a dinosaur: redundant.

However, I do think, for those who do wish to wait for it, there is a cloud somewhere over the horizon with the faintest glimmer of a silver lining and that within eighteen months to two years FCP X 2 or 3 or 4 will be on the shelves (well, on the App store anyway), and I think it may well have made up some of the ground it has recently lost. For many professional users it will be too late though as we will have moved on to new things and new ways of working. But many, no I think all, of the missing functions will be there in future iterations of FCP X, probably as plug-ins, and there will no doubt be some incredible new functions that we never thought we even needed. And that will be great. But there is one thing that won't be there and that is my trust in the corporation who I have supported - fanatically - yes I was a self-confessed Apple "fan" -  through thick and thin for nearly 20 years. I have never really truly "trusted" Apple - you don't work with Macs for twenty years without realising that Apple do what they want when they want and without warning. But this time they have dumped a whole section of their user base and as much as I love my Macs I won't ever buy into the "Apple" iDeology again (see what I did there?). That's the greatest loss for Apple - the thousands of other pro users out there who feel the same way. There are some seriously pissed off people out there who have invested thousands in the FCS standard. But do Apple care? Not a bit of it. Yes iPad and iPhone are cool and do the job in the coolest way - but not because they are Apple, but just because they are cool.

But let me end on a positive note. We have been using FCP for over ten years now and I for one was getting a little tired of the interface and I was really looking forward to learning a new way of editing - I love a paradigm shift!. At my age it's not often that you get the chance to really relearn something from scratch and I was looking forward to the challenge. But now, what's the point? I've already messed around with iMovie '11 so I "get" the new way of editing, and it's exciting - in a strange and fascinating way - but it's just a shame we can't use it professionally.  I will still get to learn a new  piece of software though. This is the great escape. This is my chance to finally have a look at that thing I thought I would never need or want to touch….Premiere Pro. Or maybe I could take a bigger leap and finally get my head around Avid. For the past ten years these are thoughts that you would never have heard me utter in public, I was such an FCP-head. But this is what's actually so good about the FCP X bollox-up. It frees us up to try new things! To move on to pastures fresh. And that's always got to be a good thing.

Things may change over the next few years, and I'm not ruling out ever returning to FCP - I'll use the best tool for the job - but for now I'm off to get my 50% switcher's discount on CS 5.5/ my 60% off Avid MC….decisions, decisions.

NB As soon as a legacy path is available for FCP X this post becomes in part "retracted"! Apart from the bit about trust…and colour correction…and log and capture etc., etc...

BREAKING NEWS: According to MacRumors Apple held a briefing for enterprise customers in London yesterday (6th July) and it appears that enterprise deployments will be able to purchase FCP 7 licences soon. Seems like Apple may have realised what a cock-up they've made. Doesn't help me much as I'm a "one-man-band". Oh well. There were some other interesting points raised too. For anyone interested see the post here. No sign of a legacy path though.