Adobe Revives Premiere for Mac

[MacRumors]

Macworld reports that Adobe is announcing a new Mac version of Premiere for Intel-based Macs that will be part of a package called Adobe Production Studio which also includes Adobe Encore DVD and Adobe Soundbooth.

Adobe dropped Premiere for the Mac in July of 2003, citing a small Mac marketshare for the product.

With Apple's switch to Intel and growing market, Adobe is changing its mind:

“If you look at the industry as a whole, Mac customers are very important to us,” said Simon Hayhurst, director of product management for dynamic media at Adobe. “Pulling Premiere from the Mac was probably the hardest decision we ever made. It was always our intention to bring that back, and Apple’s move to Intel made it easier.”

The new version of Premiere is said to be built from scratch and "would have everything that the Windows version has, including tight integration within the suite." The final package is expected to be released in mid-2007.

Adobe's choice to make Premiere Intel-based Mac only is consistent with their release of Soundbooth.

Adobe Premiere for the Mac will be demoed at Macworld San Francisco.

[iMikeT]

Unless this is priced significantly lower than Final Cut Pro, I predict that Premiere will still have little support on the Mac.

[Squareball]

Originally Posted by iMikeT

Unless this is priced significantly lower than Final Cut Pro, I predict that Premiere will still have little support on the Mac.

I don't know, I think they are banking on switchers who are mid level video editors. I have a friend who has been on windows his whole life and hears all about the great things macs have to offer but since he makes his living doing video editing and uses premiere, he is hesitant to switch because he doesn't want the downtime of learning new software.

I will say though, FCP isn't all that hard to pick up if you already know video editing.. but I imagine it will be a draw for some switchers.. enough?? Not sure.

[whoooaaahhhh]

Originally Posted by iMikeT

Unless this is priced significantly lower than Final Cut Pro, I predict that Premiere will still have little support on the Mac.

As an editor, it's mostly what each person prefers. I like FCP and I don't like AVID, the fact that it's several thousand dollars doesn't affect how much I like it, I just don't like it. Premiere is the same way, I don't like it because of the interface. But, I believe that there will be more support for Premiere on the Mac now because Premiere is still used by many small time houses that are slowly switching to mac but are unready to jump into FCP. Lots of wedding cutters and news cutters like the Premiere interface. It has a chance. But you are right, FCP is a much stronger contender and will almost assuredly knock Premiere's socks off.

Originally Posted by groovebuster

I wouldn't have guessed that the PowerPC would be abandoned so fast by Adobe.

Really?

[shelterpaw]

Originally Posted by iMikeT

Unless this is priced significantly lower than Final Cut Pro, I predict that Premiere will still have little support on the Mac.

I haven't had the chance to used FCP, but I've been using Premiere for years. I like it and it's easy enough. I am doing amateur video editing, so I don't have the need for FCP. I welcome back Premiere, one more reason to buy a new Mac. I hope they have an upgrade path for the old Premiere faithful.

[Freg3000]

Competition = Awesome.

This is great news, and further shows Adobe's commitment to the Mac platform.

A good way to begin (a bit early) MWSF.

[groovebuster]

Another app that is intel only...

I wouldn't have guessed that the PowerPC would be abandoned so fast by Adobe. I am not impressed...

groovebuster

[york2600]

Originally Posted by groovebuster

Another app that is intel only...

I wouldn't have guessed that the PowerPC would be abandoned so fast by Adobe. I am not impressed...

groovebuster

Adobe knows that if you're doing any graphics or video editing you're buying a computer every 2 years anyways. Why bother making a new app run on PowerPC. The people that actually buy the stuff won't mind shelling out some cash for at least a Mac Mini with a external hard drive array.

[Butthead]

Originally Posted by york2600

Adobe knows that if you're doing any graphics or video editing you're buying a computer every 2 years anyways. Why bother making a new app run on PowerPC. The people that actually buy the stuff won't mind shelling out some cash for at least a Mac Mini with a external hard drive array.

Not many Intel Mac users wanting to buy Premiere would be using a Mac Mini, perhaps a film school grad might use a MacBook at minimum.

Originally Posted by solvs

Only half abandoned. The rest of their apps aren't even Universal yet. I suspect there will be people buying the bundle for the other apps, and I know After Effects will still be popular, but I doubt Premiere will make too much headway.

Then Adobe can cancel it again and claim lack of sales.

Probably cancel it again, as fast as a new TV series which doesn't get good ratings immediately.

Adobe will probably not release any new software updates for PPC, all new software will proabably be only Intel, no 'universal binary' for them. They are cheap to the core.

so Adobe always intended to return (premier) to the Mac? What a load of BS, they return when they think (wrongly or rightfully in their predictions of sales #'s) there is potential for increasing sales. The second they think sales are dropping, they will abandon the Mac again.

[2ndPath]

Originally Posted by groovebuster

I wouldn't have guessed that the PowerPC would be abandoned so fast by Adobe. I am not impressed...

There is not really a point in devoting lots of resources to develop for a platform, which is already out of production for over half a year. Most of the people on PowerPC hardware doing video editing already have video editing software and are unlikely to buy another one.

Selling upgrades for existing software is another story. Here Adobe continues catering to PPC users: The CS3 software for example still should run fine on PPC machines.

Originally Posted by Btthead

so Adobe always intended to return (premier) to the Mac? What a load of BS, they return when they think (wrongly or rightfully in their predictions of sales #'s) there is potential for increasing sales. The second they think sales are dropping, they will abandon the Mac again.

This is not surprising. It's just a business decision. Maybe they wanted to return earlier, but if the market share is too small Adobe will loose money on a product. The time when they dropped out, the Mac market share was still decreasing (if I remember correctly) and the competition from FCP made the situation even worse. With the growing Mac market share there is a business perspective again.

[groovebuster]

Originally Posted by york2600

Adobe knows that if you're doing any graphics or video editing you're buying a computer every 2 years anyways. Why bother making a new app run on PowerPC. The people that actually buy the stuff won't mind shelling out some cash for at least a Mac Mini with a external hard drive array.

Doesn't make sense...

a) If you are doing video editing on that level, you wouldn't work with a Mac mini. You would buy a pro machine.

b) The problem is that the classical graphic apps (Adobe Creative Suite) are not even UB so far. To work with CPU hungry apps under Rosetta is not really senseful... so that's a reason not to buy a Mac Pro so far.

c) My Quad G5 is not exactly an old machine already. I bought it in Dec. 2005 and I am pretty sure that it will be a good work station for another 2 or 3 years.

d) If you make the switch to an intel machine, you HAVE to update all your software to the newest version to avoid working under Rosetta (which in most cases should be avoided for productive work). This is adding up quickly to thousands of dollars extra just for software licenses at once. So if I intend to work with Premiere (because of which reason ever), I have to shell out a lot of extra money to get a fully productive workstation.

The UB were intended to make the transition between platforms as smooth as possible and that the user/customer can decide when he wants to switch his hardware. Adobe's approach to this matter is absurd. At the moment I would only consider working with Premiere if all my other software was already UB and I would consider switching to a MacPro anyway... which will be not the case for at least another 12 months. And at that time my Quad G5 will probably still be a very usable machine for minor jobs, but will be still useless for apps that are intel only already today...

groovebuster

[solvs]

Originally Posted by groovebuster

At the moment I would only consider working with Premiere if all my other software was already UB and I would consider switching to a MacPro anyway... which will be not the case for at least another 12 months. And at that time my Quad G5 will probably still be a very usable machine for minor jobs, but will be still useless for apps that are intel only already today...

That's because Premiere isn't meant for you.

Or, well, anyone else apparently.

[westonharvey]

Originally Posted by york2600

Adobe knows that if you're doing any graphics or video editing you're buying a computer every 2 years anyways. Why bother making a new app run on PowerPC. The people that actually buy the stuff won't mind shelling out some cash for at least a Mac Mini with a external hard drive array.

Why bother? Because if you wrote your application with any regard to cross platform development methodology (which you should be doing even if you intend to target only one platform, it goes hand in hand with encapsulation and OO design) - you should only have to click the little "PPC" box in XCode and build.

They built this from "scratch", and can't get it to compile on PowerPC? What did they do, write half of it in assembler?

And I know people that still edit videos on their G3 iMacs, so don't tell me that dual core and Quad G5s are suddenly useless. A 2.0ghz dual G5 is still a high performance video editing box, and if it came down to having to buy a Mac Pro just to use Adobe's product, I'd stick with Final Cut.

Seriously uninspiring.

[eric_n_dfw]

Originally Posted by westonharvey

Why bother? Because if you wrote your application with any regard to cross platform development methodology (which you should be doing even if you intend to target only one platform, it goes hand in hand with encapsulation and OO design) - you should only have to click the little "PPC" box in XCode and build.

They built this from "scratch", and can't get it to compile on PowerPC? What did they do, write half of it in assembler?

Yes, they probably do have large sections of code written in assembler for the realtime and/or rendering speed that are x86 coded for the Win32 version of Premier already.

Originally Posted by westonharvey

And I know people that still edit videos on their G3 iMacs, so don't tell me that dual core and Quad G5s are suddenly useless. A 2.0ghz dual G5 is still a high performance video editing box, and if it came down to having to buy a Mac Pro just to use Adobe's product, I'd stick with Final Cut.

I also use FCP 4 on a Dual G4 500Mhz (have used FCP 1, 2 and 3 on a G3 400 and G4 400 as well) - I'm quite happy editting since I usually only use cuts and disolves but when it comes to rendering for color correction or compositing and especially rendering the DVD, I yearn for a modern machine. Adobe is targeting a growing audience of Intel users rather than the us PPC users who's base will be shrinking.

[LethalWolfe]

Originally Posted by york2600

Adobe knows that if you're doing any graphics or video editing you're buying a computer every 2 years anyways. Why bother making a new app run on PowerPC.

To the best of my knowledge I don't know a post house that upgrades their machines that frequently. Maybe some individuals might, but just two years isn't a very long life cycle especially if you take into account the big changes Apple has made in the last few years (pci-e/pci-x, PPC/Intel, etc.,) that can make 3rd party cards incompatible w/newer machines (thus significantly increasing the upgrade costs).

The people that actually buy the stuff won't mind shelling out some cash for at least a Mac Mini with a external hard drive array.

The people mentioned in first part of your post aren't gonna buy a freakin' Mac Mini.


Lethal

[solvs]

Originally Posted by groovebuster

I wouldn't have guessed that the PowerPC would be abandoned so fast by Adobe.

Only half abandoned. The rest of their apps aren't even Universal yet. I suspect there will be people buying the bundle for the other apps, and I know After Effects will still be popular, but I doubt Premiere will make too much headway.

Then Adobe can cancel it again and claim lack of sales.

[AndyR]

Wish Adobe but get of there backsides and sort out a UB version of Shockwave Player already!

[From Win to Mac]

The main reason i switched to Mac 5 years ago was when i started editing in "Premier" and it crashed so bad and sucked so much that I looked at Macs.

But I've used Premiere Pro, and it's a pretty solid product, so that's cool. The feature I miss the most was the Filmstrip Export.

[bousozoku]

Originally Posted by groovebuster

Another app that is intel only...

I wouldn't have guessed that the PowerPC would be abandoned so fast by Adobe. I am not impressed...

groovebuster

They've gone from being lazy and cheap to being...ummm, lazy and cheap, except on the end user pricing, of course.

[abbazaba]

premiere was the first NLE i ever cut on...i absolutely love it, though i've used final cut pro exclusively since i switched to mac. this is great news!

[tk421]

Originally Posted by abbazaba

premiere was the first NLE i ever cut on...i absolutely love it, though i've used final cut pro exclusively since i switched to mac. this is great news!

Me too. I loved Premiere when I was just starting. That was before Premiere Pro and it was on a PowerMac 8600 or something (I don't think it was a G3 yet). Since then I've moved on to FCP and Avid.

[heisetax]

Originally Posted by groovebuster

Another app that is intel only...

I wouldn't have guessed that the PowerPC would be abandoned so fast by Adobe. I am not impressed...

groovebuster

Adobe had already abandoned Premiere on the Mac 3 1/2 years ago. This is not quite the same thing.

But as you say, it is just an example of what we will see in the future from other software writers. Most of the time it sounds like MS with its Mac Office 2007, they seem to be talking sbout a separate PPC & Intel versions of Mac Office. That could be to keep those that have both platforms from using one copy on both platforms, rather than purchasing 2 copies. Or it can be another company that is not expanding its PPC coverage, but rather cutting down.

By MacWorld 2008 I fully expect to see & hear Steve Jobs declaring the PPC Mac Dead & time to bury it. This will just accelerate the loss of not only new software for the PPC Mac, but also the updating of current PPC software. I may have an Intel Mac Pro, but I have several PPC PowerMacs & PowerBooks. I may like the expanded Intel Mac software, but I'm also afraid of the future for the PPC Mac software future.

I still remember several Mac OS 9 utilities that I hated to lose when I started changing to Mac OS X. That was part of the reason that I waited to Mac OS 10.2 before I used Mac OS X on a daily basis.

Those new to the Mac, either new to computers or switchers, will not have things as bad as those that are not ready to make yet another change in software platform. I'm not really ready for another software switch. Even though software developers can change their software by making it Universal. This costs them time & money. So most of them have to charge for this change just to keep in the black.

Bill the TaxMan

[ChrisA]

Originally Posted by groovebuster

Another app that is intel only...

I wouldn't have guessed that the PowerPC would be abandoned so fast by Adobe. I am not impressed...

groovebuster

Going Intel-only is not just being cheap or lazy. By raising the minimum system requirements they are making the software a better product. Had they designed the software so it would run on the majority of G4/G5 systems out there they would have had to compromise features.

Footage worth editing typically costs much then the price of an Intel Mac and any PPC mac will be at least 2 years old by the time this is out of Beta. People will need to buy a computer anyway

Sell you G5 now while it still has some value left

[Leemo]

Originally Posted by ChrisA

Going Intel-only is not just being cheap or lazy. By raising the minimum system requirements they are making the software a better product. Had they designed the software so it would run on the majority of G4/G5 systems out there they would have had to compromise features.

Footage worth editing typically costs much then the price of an Intel Mac and any PPC mac will be at least 2 years old by the time this is out of Beta. People will need to buy a computer anyway

Sell you G5 now while it still has some value left

I completely agree - plus people seem to be forgetting, if people are happy with their G5s, they're probably happy with the software they also use on them for video editing - and if people are unwilling to upgrade to Intel they'll probably be unwilling to pay the price for new editing software as well.

Technology moves on, has Apple begun to neglect PPC? No, Adobe has, and I wouldn't exactly call it neglect, it's moving with the times - get over it.

-Leemo

[BornAgainMac]

I wonder what the revenue percentage that tiny Mac marketshare produces for Adobe with their other products. 5% marketshare != 5% revenue.