Exclusive interview: Adobe's Al Mooney on Final Cut Pro X, Premiere Pro, and the future of video editing

About a month ago, the professional digital video editing world was shocked, when it became apparent that Apple had decided to abandon its venerable Final Cut Pro file format and, although there was a new Final Cut Pro X product, there’d be no upgrade path between the two products.

Apple had, apparently, decided to strand its loyal users. All those old videos, films, and movies would not be able to move forward into new versions.

Now, quite obviously, this isn’t a government-related topic, but I’ve been doing a lot of work with video recently. As editor of Connected Photographer (part of my day job), I’ve also had a long relationship with Adobe, makers of my favorite Photoshop and one of Final Cut Pro’s chief competitors: Premiere Pro.

I asked Adobe’s Al Mooney, product manager for Premiere Pro, if he’d be willing to answer some uncomfortable questions about Apple’s moves. Al has a unique perspective, having also formerly been at both Apple and Avid, which means he’s pretty much seen the video software market from all angles.

Al agreed, and here are my questions and his answers.

Thanks for speaking with us. Please introduce yourself and tell us about your background.

I’m Al Mooney product manager for Adobe Premiere Pro software, responsible for defining, delivering, and supporting the overall feature set and functionality. Earlier, I was the UK senior business development manager for video and broadcast at Adobe, providing technical workflow consultation for top broadcast accounts in the U.K. read more...