What went wrong with Final Cut Pro X

By Jeffery Harrell

We don’t use ink to express our opinions any more, which is a shame. If we did, I could start this out by talking about the ocean of ink that’s been spilled on Final Cut Pro X over the past couple of days, and how hardly a drop of it has been positive, and how Apple deserves every last speck and spatter of it.

I spent my morning trying out Final Cut Pro X. And I just … I’m shocked. That’s the best word for it. I’m just shocked. It’s incredibly bad.

But there’s a sort of nuance as to exactly how and why it’s bad that’s gotten a bit lost in all the blog posts and the Twitter screams. And it’s worth taking a minute to reflect on that nuance.

Broadly speaking, we can divide everything there is to say about FCP X into four big piles: stuff that’s new and works great; stuff that’s new and quirky and takes getting used to; omitted features one can imagine Apple adding in the near future; and absolutely crippling design flaws that, unless fixed and soon, spell death for Final Cut Pro as a commercial nonlinear editing system. read more...