Conan's punchline is? Final Cut Pro X, and, oh, what a stinker [video]
Politicians and celebrities are used to being mocked during late-night talk show monologues or skits. But computer software -- and, gasp, made by the entertainment industry's beloved Apple? Quick, call the "Adjustment Bureau".
As if Final Cut Pro X wasn't proving to be enough of a stinker, Conan O`Brien and his video production team have thrown a little more angst into buyers' turbulent emotions. What's really scary about the video above? It might not have been made to be funny. This could be for reel.
Apple released Final Cut Pro X earlier this week, and buyer reviewers stank from the start. Among the 985 reviews currently at Apple's Mac App Store, 449 are 1-star. By comparison, Apple's Aperture only received 30 one-stars out of 430 reviews (287 are 5-stars). Pages has a 4.5-star average rating, with 171 out of 231 reviewers giving the current version 5-stars. But those are products where Apple added something, not took it away.
Writes the video's uploader, YouTube user BlueOblivion80:
Apple pushed out FCP X without previously-available features that were essential to allowing FCP to work alongside other professional tools within a workflow, such as sound editing, scoring, visual effects and color-grading tools that were beyond Apple's offerings. This interoperability is what allowed FCP to find a place in a pro's toolkit, allowing it to be used in broadcast tv and feature films.
Apple essentially took a program that has matured over 10 years and threw out the baby with the bathwater. And despite saying they'll be reimplementing some of the missing workflow features, there has been no official statement on what features will be restored, nor any timetable whatsoever. Portions are innovative for sure, but it's been served up with extreme arrogance on the part of Apple and a total disregard for its loyal professional base, who do not have one-size-fits-all workflows!
That's a popular sentiment repeated many times this week.
Well, it's dress-down Friday, and I'm done dressing down Apple. Enjoy the video.
UPDATE 9:48 p.m. ET: Video taken down; I updated link.