How Apple Took the ‘Pro’ Out of Final Cut Pro

onlinevideo.net by Jan Ozer

Steve Jobs was the greatest product innovator in the last couple of centuries, and his passing saddened me significantly. My appreciation goes back to his storied commencement address at Stanford University, which revealed him to be a deep and thoughtful man. I stand in awe of his incredible string of product successes, including the original Mac, iMac, iPod, iPhone, iPad, iTunes, and Apple App Store—not to mention Pixar—as well as his ability to produce maniacal, passionate fans. But that doesn’t mean that I personally like every product created under his watch or agree with every product-related decision.

This is particularly so after finishing Walter Isaacson’s outstanding biography, titled simply Steve Jobs, where I learned of two of Jobs’ passions: one for simplicity and the other for controlling the experience. In particular, I can’t reconcile Jobs’ passion for simplicity with Final Cut Pro X.

I recently reviewed the new features in Final Cut Pro 10.0.3 and found them impressive (http://go2sm.com/fcpx). Overall, though, I abhor the program. When I run FCPX, my reaction is visceral; I feel the walls pressing in and my blood pressure rising. I adore the clean slate of Adobe Premiere Pro and its doppelganger Final Cut Pro 7. FCPX has so much structure, so many completely foreign concepts, that it feels like my 31? monitor has shrunk to 17?. With such a supposed focus on simplicity, how could a company run by Jobs produce such a program? read more...