Apple’s no stranger to jumping into waters that they probably shouldn’t be jumping into headfirst just yet. Back when iMovie got a major overhaul to iMovie 08, Apple faced quite a bit of push back from the community. As a result they offered up iMovie HD 6 as a free download to anyone who purchased iMovie ’08. Over time the iMovie HD 6 application disappeared and the new iMovie permanently took its place.
This spring Apple introduced Final Cut Pro X, and the results have been pretty much the same. Final Cut Pro editors were unhappy with the lack of pro support in Final Cut Pro X, and until recently, their only option was to go back to the Final Cut Studio that they grew to love. Prosumers, and enthusiasts loved it, but professionals were on the fence. Heck, two of our contributors, both film editors, reached very different conclusions of their own. One continued to use it, and the other asked for a refund (you can read their thoughts here).
Apple’s finally doing something about it.
It seems that Apple has finally agreed with the industry, Final Cut Pro X just isn’t cutting it yet. Apple is now selling Final Cut Studio again for $999, complete with Motion, Soundtrack Pro, and all of the other applications editors relied on up until now.
But, don’t count on it being around for the long haul, we’d be willing to bet that the legacy Final Cut Studio will eventually disappear in much the same way that iMovie HD 6 disappeared. As soon as Apple’s comfortable with where the new version of Final Cut Pro X is heading, and as soon as they’ve addressed all the professional editors’ concerns, it will disappear just like its brethren before it.
Source: MacRumors
Update: @Chastastic pointed out on Twitter that The Loop has reported that Apple’s just trying to clear out their extra inventory It could be. But, I doubt Apple’s going to come right out and say “Final Cut Pro X Sucks, so we’re going to offer up Final Cut Studio again.” The proof will be what happens once Apple puts the features people are looking for back into Final Cut Pro X. If Final Cut Studio is around still at that point, and mysteriously disappears, you’ll know why.
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I've almost finished editing my thesis film using Final Cut X, and can honestly say that the debate is not about missing features as much as it is about slowness. It takes FCPX two minutes to do something it takes 30 seconds to do in FCP. My sessions go something like... Click on the timeline. Computer freezes. Spinning Color wheel. It goes away. Push play. The computer freezes. Spinning color wheel. Smooth sailing for a moment, I build some momentum and get down to work. Then the audio is out of sync. It's SO FAR from the stability of FCP's of old. The product has crashed on me numerous times. Once even after I clicked File>Import. And I'm doing my due diligence and using apple's own Pro Res codec! On a decent machine: 3.0 ghz dual core iMac with 4 gigs of ram. That's what's frustrating people. And I don't think people on most of the forums understand what it's like as an editor to sit for 30 seconds to complete every single task. Imagine if Word stalled every time you wanted to cut and paste. You'd go insane.
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LikeThis article is silly. Apple have very quietly returned FCS to a very minor sales channel. It is still a dead product - it will receive no further significant updates or improvements and will eventually probably not even be able to run on new versions of OS X.
It is a concession to people who are reliant on FCS for their work at present (and may need to add a few more licenses) but it is far from an admission of any failing in FCP X which Apple seems quite happy with - and well they should be, it seems well suited to the needs of the vast majority of potential purchasers.
I highly doubt that FCP X will ever see the addition of many of the features that pro TV and film editors feel they need. Apple is getting out of that market.
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LikeLove the blog guys, but I have to say - this headline is very misleading at best.
Apple has not admitted anything. They have not released a statement. Saying Apple "said" something when they obviously have not is dangerous.
Like one reader pointed out, they could simply be getting rid of extra stock.
Either way, this headline reads like link bait. I see this a lot on other Mac sites, but not here.
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