It is possible that people are formulating opinions too quickly, without fully testing the waters. Can you blame them? We spend extreme amounts of time and money buying and learning programs – only for them to be discontinued, after what is in my opinion – a relatively short time following updates.

I am not even entirely sure what programs still exist from the traditional studio bundle. I truly don’t know what I’m going to do at this point. Should I go back to Avid? Should I dive into Premiere? I am careful to research the things that I read on these forums and I always want people or companies to have the chance to defend themselves.

Those calling this hysteria are being just as ignorant as the folks you are accusing. For ten years I looked forward to new updates to the amazing program that FCP had always been. I so far don’t like what I am seeing or hearing. I don’t have the time right now to completely re-learn a program that I already knew and mastered to find out that it is not for me. If it is indeed true that you cannot open up an old project on the new version than I would have to strongly consider that a deal breaker.

Even if I do switch to a new platform I will always check back with my old love. I am hopeful that Apple will remain the awesome company they have always been and realize that the people complaining just might have a legitimate gripe. How about hosting an internet forum to answer questions and concerns. Who knows? They might clear up a lot of bad rumors. One thing is clear – They have some explaining to do.

-Tim

It’s more than just a “few” professionals that do NOT want to use FCPX and feel they’ve been left out in the cold by Apple (which for the most part they have). Apple have also made NO SECRET that FCPX is never going to be a “Professional” tool, not now, not with upgrades (free or paided).

Like others, I bought FCPX, tried it, got disappointed, uninstalled it, and got a refund from Apple. I don’t mind changes … I like changes, BUT change for a reason, not just to be different. The changes in FCPX have NOT made my workflow easier or better or more efficient … just different, and “different” doesn’t help me get work do more quickly.

And finally, it’s MISSING a huge amount of functionality beyond just “multi-cam” and XML. I could list them all, but there just isn’t enough comment room.

And then there is Motion 5 and Compressor 4 … two additional tools for FCPX that have not changed at all??? Support for 3D objects in Motion 5 is virtually non-existant, just a it was in Motion 4. Compressor 4 interface is virtually identical to prior version and is no faster. And where is Blu-ray authoring (you know, menus, titles, etc. like DVD Studio supported)??

I’m sorry, but 3+ years in the making and FCPX is the best Apple can do given the current wealth and resources Apple now has?

The road is clear for me, I’m migrating over to Adobe who are currently offering 50% discount to FCP owners. But fortunately lynda.com has Adobe training also … As a long time premium subscriber to lynda.com, I’d rather see more training videos and excercise files around Adobe’s suite of tools for professional and non-professionals.

Rob

Please watch Migrating from Final Cut Pro 7 to Final Cut Pro X when it releases in the next few days. Storing projects and media on a secondary scratch disk is something that FCP X does very well. It will even detect this material automatically when you launch the application, and it won’t even hiccup when it isn’t there. That scratch drive will move from machine to machine much easier than I’ve seen with FCP 7.

I have no idea if FCP X will be right for you or your students (which is my answer to everybody). However, you certainly will be in a better place to decide when you really know what it does.

However for part-time evening classes aimed at home or one-man-band clients the power and speed will be a huge bonus – looking forward to the training series!