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Apple Refocusing Final Cut Pro? Jobs says "Next Release Will Be Awesome"

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Apr 12, 2001
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Apple is said to be revamping their Final Cut Pro product to appeal to a more mainstream audience rather than high end professionals. After layoffs in 2007, Apple has reportedly reorganized the Final Cut Pro team under the lead of Randy Ubillos, the developer who completely redesigned iMovie in 2008. The new iMovie was drastic departure from the original iMovie codebase.

According to a report from AppleInsider, the goal of the new Final Cut Pro is to make it "more appealing and useful to the needs of prosumers".
Currently, Final Cut Pro is targeted at advanced professionals with a scaled down, less expensive Final Cut Express version sold to users who don't need all of its high end features. Because Apple now primarily sells the Express version, the company wants to rethink Final Cut Studio and scale its overall development to better fit the majority of its customers.
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Steve Jobs was recently questioned about the fate of Final Cut Pro. MacSoda sent an email to Jobs asking about layoffs and the future of the application. Jobs replied:
We certainly do [care about Pro apps]. Folks who left were in support, not engineering. Next release will be awesome.
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Article Link: Apple Refocusing Final Cut Pro? Jobs says "Next Release Will Be Awesome"
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/05/18/apple-refocusing-final-cut-pro-jobs-says-next-release-will-be-awesome/
They better not dumb down the application like iMovie '08. What about the Pros who rely on Final Cut Pro? Would they be forced to downgrade to a prosumer version? It seems like Apple is not focusing more on prosumers than actual pros, evidenced by what's happening to the Macbook Pro line.
 
yikes.

they've spent all this time developing FCP into a pro-level app, and taken a sizable chunk of the market from Avid... and now they want to make imovie again? what an odd decision.

seems like making something "prosumer" is a great way to lose your "professional" users. just out of professional pride, i would think. no one is cutting hollywood movies on vegas, ya know?

seems like it would be smarter to make imovie more robust, rather than down-market FCP.
 
This is great news. It is unlikely Apple will strip out pro features and effectively neuter the program. Instead, it sounds like they plan to increase the usability of FCP to make it more approachable to a broader range of users. As someone who spends 10-14 hours a day with the finicky beast, this can only be a good thing.
 
What the "F*!k"

Make it better but Don't dumbed down? I don't wanna see templates with lens flares, hearts and gradient backgrounds or any kind of video wizard. "Pro" is in the name for a reason
 
SWEET! I can't wait for it now. Hopefully it will be 64bit and really powerful. I emailed Jobs a little bit back about FCP, but never got anything back. I'm a media and video production student and hopefully the next FCS will be epic (and cheaper)
 
kockgunner said:
They better not dumb down the application like iMovie '08. What about the Pros who rely on Final Cut Pro? Would they be forced to downgrade to a prosumer version? It seems like Apple is not focusing more on prosumers than actual pros, evidenced by what's happening to the Macbook Pro line.
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I'm a certified FCP editor and if they dumb down FCP, I'm going Avid.
 
Not feeling good about this. Apple has been ignoring FCP and the needs of pro users for awhile now. I make my living using FCP and to hear them say that they basically want to dumb it down is not good.
 
I mean, this will probably be great for me, but isn't there a lot more to consider than just how many copies are sold? What about the fact that high end video production companies also buy a lot of hardware? Being a standard for the film industry also means a ton of film schools will buy your computers.

I know apple would never do this (they love their simple product lines), but it almost seems like they should consider a 3-level approach to their applications. The iLife series, something in between, and the 'Pro' series.
 
I love the power of the entire FCS! I really hope they don't dumb it down so that it isn't good for professionals anymore.
 
I'm a huge FinalCut user; but if they seriously do this, I won't be happy... I can't believe though that they would do this after they've taken so much time to make FCP a professional video editing tool. It would be like going backwards to make it like iMovie in a sense.

I would keep doing what they do now; Final Cut Express, and Final Cut Pro.
 
Oh Joy. Direct uploads to Facebook.

I love SJ. Thrilled, booms, the whole bit. But if Apple loses the pro crowd they lose a lot of prestige too.
 
I remember when everyone on this website called my a troll for stating my opinion that the mac was turning into one of these.
350__1_Leapfrog-20Computer.jpg
 
Likely they retained the same guy who transitioned iMovie from Carbon to Cocoa with a rewrite.

Hopefully they don't nix as many features with Final Cut Pro in the transition.

---

New guy probably brought in to clean up the problem with the current rewrite delay.
 
I won't worry until I see what they (Apple) have up their sleeves. I have a feeling it is still going to be a pro app, but will be easy enough to use for someone who is a beginner etc. I also think they are going to get away from FCE. A welcome sign to this might be a considerable price drop in the application and the entire suite of programs! Just have to wait and see.

We certainly do [care about Pro apps]. Folks who left were in support, not engineering. Next release will be awesome.
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At least we know they still care about Pro Apps. I think we will all be pleasantly surprised by the update. Now the question is when will we see this new update?
 
Where's the "bang head" emoticon???

Seriously, I can't abide this. I'm a professional editor, and this is endangering my future. Time to get Avid certified. I have Premiere too, but I just don't care for it. FCP's interface is PERFECT. Make it 64-bit and multi-threaded, and I'll be a happy camper.
 
I find this very hard to believe, however, Final Cut's general user interface paradigm is quite old, and could use a revamp, as well as new codebase supporting things like 64-but memory addressing, Open CL, Grand Central, and other more modern technologies. I think they can make it more usable, still appeal to pros, and modernize the codebase at the same time. They better, or they will indeed alienate a VERY large number of users.

EDIT:

Oh, never mind -- "Prince McLean" wrote this? Pretty much ensures it's off-base. I also find it HIGHLY unlikely Final Cut Express outsells Final Cut Studio. "Prince's" other off-base rants over the years make me very much doubt that there is much merit to this idea that Final Cut Studio is going Prosumer. What a joke -- Final Cut Studio pretty much already IS prosumer, maybe a grade above that -- but it's still not capable of what some of the Avid or Autodesk platforms can do, not even close. No, I call BS on this big-time.
 
knewsom said:
Seriously, I can't abide this. I'm a professional editor, and this is endangering my future. Time to get Avid certified. I have Premiere too, but I just don't care for it. FCP's interface is PERFECT. Make it 64-bit and multi-threaded, and I'll be a happy camper.
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I wouldn't be surprised if this happens!!!
 
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