The problem there is people were already starting to wonder if Apple was abandoning the product. In my opinion, Apple needs to be a little less secret in the pro lineup. There's no harm in saying "we are working to return feature X" to the product, when the competition already has feature X. I can see them being secretive about new features, but not old ones.
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Apple Issuing Refunds for Final Cut Pro X Upon Request
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The problem there is people were already starting to wonder if Apple was abandoning the product. In my opinion, Apple needs to be a little less secret in the pro lineup. There's no harm in saying "we are working to return feature X" to the product, when the competition already has feature X. I can see them being secretive about new features, but not old ones.
Why? What on earth has happened to Final Cut Pro 7 that it's become unsuitable overnight?
I would like my money back for that atrocity called "Windows Millenium"... 
and as far as Dell, I don't even want to go there...
and as far as Dell, I don't even want to go there...
If you're anywhere near an Apple Store, I'm sure you'd be more than welcome to play with it as much as you like in there before buying anything. Not the same as trying it in your own environment, but you'd be able to spot any major gotchas.
mostly failure of marketing...not product
After all I have read about this, I think this is mostly a failure of marketing, not product.
FCX is at least a code branch if not a completely different product than old FCP.
Kinda like pagemaker to indesign in the olden days
if they had come up with a new name or new marketing scheme, you wouldn't have had all the "auto-update" traffic followed quickly by shock and disappointment because it "...wasn't what I had before and its different"
there really doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the product...it is just a different paradigm and doesn't yet have all the pro-tools or pro-sumer tools that the older product have...but it appears that this is the future
After all I have read about this, I think this is mostly a failure of marketing, not product.
FCX is at least a code branch if not a completely different product than old FCP.
Kinda like pagemaker to indesign in the olden days
if they had come up with a new name or new marketing scheme, you wouldn't have had all the "auto-update" traffic followed quickly by shock and disappointment because it "...wasn't what I had before and its different"
there really doesn't appear to be anything wrong with the product...it is just a different paradigm and doesn't yet have all the pro-tools or pro-sumer tools that the older product have...but it appears that this is the future
You don't understand the situation. I don't know of any professionals who dumped FCS and went to FCX. Even the original poster didn't say anything about migrating to FCX. What all the pros are saying is that with the lack of professional features in FCX, and that Apple has stopped updating and selling Final Cut 7, that the Final Cut Platform as it stands now is dead. That leaves them with thousands of dollars invested in equipment/training (millions at some places) and being forced to migrate to another NLE that meets their requirements. They can hold off for a short while, but Apple has made no time commitments to when the "fixes" are coming, or whether those fixes will allow them to affectively use FCX. It's a waiting game that most studios can't afford to play. Apple really screwed this up because they basically pulled the rug out from under all of their loyal professional users. How would you feel about Apple right now if you were the owner of a major editing studio and the software that you have relied on for the past decade suddenly went away?
Henry Ford: If I'd asked customers what they wanted, they would have said "a faster horse".
Apple became Apple, because they don't ask. They research!
I don't understand the uproar and whining.
When all your stuff works and there is a possibility to really upgrade in the sense that what I have is made easier, I would upgrade.
But, once I did my homework and a new version of anything doesn't do what I need, I wouldn't. And, what I have still works, no harm , no foul.
I'll keep checking out a little later if there is anything better.
Plenty of examples: Photostudio from Arcsoft., Quicken, Quickbooks
Not only Apple, but all developers should allow trial downloads for stuff that is rewritten from the ground up.
So far, whenever I read "from the ground up" it's cringe time.
Never works usually!
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What's really amazing is how many people seem to have an irrational need to offer an opinion when they they don't have a clue what they are talking about.
The uproar is not about editors having to learn the new FCP X interface, it is about Apple removing features that are a must have in a professional broadcast environment. These are not features that are the preferred way of doing things, but the only currently available way of doing things! An EDL is the only way I can get my project sent out for color correction, an OMF is the only way I can get my audio sent out to our audio house, an external broadcast monitor is the only way I can check the true quality of my project image, etc.
And Final Cut Pro will not be viable for "a decade in its current form." It has been falling behind the curve for years now, and many simply made due because they were led to believe that Apple was working on a viable professional next gen replacement for it.
What many people fail to realise is that what the professionals and the editing houses have does currently work, but for how much longer?
Apple has basically said that FCP7 will no longer be supported by EOL the suite.... in an industry that is in constant flux and new technologies emerging day by day, one simply cannot rely on an integral part of their workflow being allowed to stagnate... thus they have to look elsewhere for a replacement so they can continue to grow and evolve with the times.
A successful business doesn't operate on a day to day basis. They have to forecast long term needs to handle upcoming projects, equipment, and hiring needs. How are they going to do that when the software that they rely on is no longer available (legally) and development has stopped? You think that FCX is going to be up to standards in the next month or two? How about by next year? Would you be willing to bet the success or failure of your business on that assumption? They still don't know if the new work paradigm that Apple is trying to sell them is going to work without spending thousands of dollars testing. Most studios are going to be rushing to Adobe and AVID and it will be a long time before Apple can get them back... if ever.
For some of us who do not know. What features were removed to make everyone upset? I'm still running version 5.0. I'm sure its outdated but it works fine for me.
Steve Jobs can roll his own head then. If FCP X had been popular, he'd be given the credit. But now it's suddenly some un-named person(s) at Apple getting blamed.
= CULTYeah, but this is what I've been complaining about ...
Apple has ALWAYS been secretive and the type of company that says, "Trust us. We have years of experience giving you great things." When have they EVER really outlined a "roadmap" ahead of time?
Plenty of software developers have gotten VERY irate with Apple for this, including Adobe, but it's one of those things you have to accept if you want to develop for the platform. (Right now, they're removing Rosetta from Lion so anyone relying on that code gets to do a rewrite of their app, or see it no longer supported.)
When I hear the editing pros whining about this situation, I think it's more of the usual, really. (Musicians went ballistic when Apple decided to ditch firewire ports on some of the machines too. Remember that?)
FCP X hasn't even been out for more than about a WEEK now, and people are all worked up about it. Come on.... if you went with Apple for Final Cut in the first place, you should have been willing to accept that you might be kept "in the dark" for a while as they make changes. That's the "Apple way".
Apple has ALWAYS been secretive and the type of company that says, "Trust us. We have years of experience giving you great things." When have they EVER really outlined a "roadmap" ahead of time?
Plenty of software developers have gotten VERY irate with Apple for this, including Adobe, but it's one of those things you have to accept if you want to develop for the platform. (Right now, they're removing Rosetta from Lion so anyone relying on that code gets to do a rewrite of their app, or see it no longer supported.)
When I hear the editing pros whining about this situation, I think it's more of the usual, really. (Musicians went ballistic when Apple decided to ditch firewire ports on some of the machines too. Remember that?)
FCP X hasn't even been out for more than about a WEEK now, and people are all worked up about it. Come on.... if you went with Apple for Final Cut in the first place, you should have been willing to accept that you might be kept "in the dark" for a while as they make changes. That's the "Apple way".
+1 so true. apple messed up quite a bit. imovie, mobileme, icloud, final cut, iphoto, trim commands, this entire locked down system.........
with professional software you expect consitency to be a given. and there is no trial for final cut.
Apple aren't offering a refund out of kindness. It's because they are receiving such bad press and ratings they have no choice but to at least refund..
Refund received
I bought FCP X, Motion, and Compressor. I emailed support asking for a refund. Within 24 hours I had a reply that the refund was applied to my credit card.
Being honest, I immediately uninstalled these apps. The App Store no longer shows these apps in my Purchased apps. But it also removed Garage Band!
I followed the instructions in the best practices article to restore FCS back to their original location. But Compressor was a no-go. So I un-installed and am in the process of re-installing FCS.
This all seems too lame for Apple...
I bought FCP X, Motion, and Compressor. I emailed support asking for a refund. Within 24 hours I had a reply that the refund was applied to my credit card.
Being honest, I immediately uninstalled these apps. The App Store no longer shows these apps in my Purchased apps. But it also removed Garage Band!
I followed the instructions in the best practices article to restore FCS back to their original location. But Compressor was a no-go. So I un-installed and am in the process of re-installing FCS.
This all seems too lame for Apple...
Its obvious Apple had no clue how pros used Final Cut. REAL research would have showed them that. They are often so busy trying to create the next great thing and make everyone think their way that they forget its not about them its about us, the consumer.
Had they marketed this as Final Cut Express X There would be none of this drama.
Apple has long got away with telling people what they want and smiling as they blindly follow. It doesn't work with the pros.
And to this, I say ....
#1, *some* of this will make its way into future updates. It pretty much has to, or else Apple is saying they're giving up marketing anything for the broadcast environment. (They could do that too, but wouldn't they simply market FCP X as "Final Cut Express X" or "iMovie Pro" if that was their intention? They haven't, which tells me they're trying to unify FCP and FC Express into a "one product fits all" replacement that's going to take some more work to fully flesh out.)
#2, Apple may feel that some of these current "needs" and "standards" are overdue for a change. It's clear that analog tape is a dinosaur. Most I.T. shops don't even do backups onto tape anymore, despite LTO and DLT still plugging along with incremental updates every so often. The broadcast industry is whining about FCP X only working in the digital realm and not supporting everything they want anymore for tape. To that, I say -- too bad, so sad. Your precious tape is going away before TOO much longer. Apple has their eye on where the ball is going, in this case.
#1, *some* of this will make its way into future updates. It pretty much has to, or else Apple is saying they're giving up marketing anything for the broadcast environment. (They could do that too, but wouldn't they simply market FCP X as "Final Cut Express X" or "iMovie Pro" if that was their intention? They haven't, which tells me they're trying to unify FCP and FC Express into a "one product fits all" replacement that's going to take some more work to fully flesh out.)
#2, Apple may feel that some of these current "needs" and "standards" are overdue for a change. It's clear that analog tape is a dinosaur. Most I.T. shops don't even do backups onto tape anymore, despite LTO and DLT still plugging along with incremental updates every so often. The broadcast industry is whining about FCP X only working in the digital realm and not supporting everything they want anymore for tape. To that, I say -- too bad, so sad. Your precious tape is going away before TOO much longer. Apple has their eye on where the ball is going, in this case.
I think they've spread themselves too thin. With so much iOS development for iPhone and iPad, and OS X, I suspect they've reassigned app developers to OS development.
I recently "upgraded" to the latest version of iPhoto. It's terribly buggy. There are major issues that are well documented in Apple's support community, which Apple has shown no interest in addressing (demonstrated by the fact that Apple has not resolved these issues in many, many months: more than should be necessary or reasonable).
I would request a refund, but my iPhoto library would no longer be readable by the previous version of iPhoto.
I've been disappointed with Apple's recent applications, to be frank.
I agree. Apple seems to be using a few apologist bloggers in an attempt to quiet the angst.
Go check out the creative cow dot net forum for FPC X and see what the pros are saying...