I’m beginning to wonder if this isn’t actually a sad situation, not an intentional FU. A situation that is sad because there really is no power structure framework in that company. No one actually intentionally meant it to be a FU, but it ended up being one because of the corporate culture there.

So that’s really it, perhaps one could think of it like a scaffolding or something, a scaffolding of responsibility and authority that is less top down and more bottom up, a more decentralized power structure.

Apple has a lot of employees, it has a lot of fans, and it has an incredible position on this planet in many ways. But what’s happening here with FCP X is SAD more than anything. It’s depressing. Such a huge success story, yet unable to hold it together in some crucial ways.

It’s sad, is what it is. The product is sweet, but there needs to be a framework in place that prevents these sorts of unintentional oversights. It’s sad that this could possible even become and oversight, you know?

Apple needs help.

There is no way a company that considers things from their customers’ perspectives would’ve allowed this to become a problem in the first place. There would have been pre-release notices, guides to help with the transition, and continued support for FCP7 (if only for a certain period of time-either set date or “until x features are implemented in FCPX). So, the “why so long” is really more like weeks plural if not months, not a single week.

It took only a week.

It is the people who are impatient that have the problem.

When you look at past history, when problem occur, Apple always takes its time to get its response correct. Apple NEVER knee-jerks a response. Apple NEVER impulsively responds.

So many people are impatient. It is the modern internet attitude of instant gratification.

But knee jerking a wrong response can have big consequences.

It is far better to do it the Apple Way:
1. Carefully consider and comprehensively investigate the problem.
2. Carefully develop the best answer.
3. Respond only when you are ready.

Lack of matte screen options are still a sore point with many. The latest dictum from on high “Thou Shalt Download All New Software.”
They just don’t care about user problems anymore unless the complaints start hitting the news and become embarrassing.

Of course as stated in several places, it could be an effort to consolidate the product AND just say that “we think editing video is now a commodity thing” and our software effort here is saying that … we’ve figured out that what helps Apple is to now help consumers do video versus the market share of pro’s.” They could be right.

But why not be smart enough to tackle the issue head on and create a day where you make that market-driven case and show the software for what it is and isn’t in advance.

That would have be sensitive, smart and best of all, kind.

It’s really hard to not say … Apple, you acted dumb.

Harvey
http://macintoshia.com
the land of mac learning

While I only make a portion of my income doing video work, I wasn’t upset by Apple taking the appropriate amount of time to assess the biggest complaints and put together this FAQ to (hopefully) help alleviate some of the tension. Its literally only been a week, but probably it felt longer because of the hundreds of complaint articles and videos.

It’s like Wilco deciding to write Nickelback post-grunge songs about partying and sex for their next album and expecting their fans to be ok with it. Sure, they’d make more money in the short term, but they’d lose a dedicated long-term base that does more free marketing for them than you can put a price on.

It wouldn’t shock me if you start to see PCs and/or more android devices popping up in commercials and movies now as a retaliation “f*** you” to Apple. Not a smart move… Not smart.

Because the Apple way is always to look forward, and if a few tens of thousand of people are inconvenienced… well, no matter. :)

A good friend of mine at Apple once said that during the PowerPC-Intel transition something that I think still holds true: “We’re essentially a marketing firm that has only one client – ourselves. We’ll only respond to negativity if it gets out of hand.” Quite telling.