FCPX going subscription

[Clermond]

Is that true? That would be totally disappointing. FCP is the reason I’m still on Apple hardware.

[stewhem]

I hope they don't go that route. I dropped everything Adobe and I'd do the same with Apple. Back to Windoze and Resolve - until that flies up into the clouds then we're really f****d.

[Bassman2003]

Many of these imaging software titles have been around so long that there is not much left to improve, add or innovate around. So the subscription model is less appealing to us, not the makers. After clinging on to the last Creative Suite, I installed the subscription versions since my wife teaches college and they give it to her. I use the same functions of the programs that I always have along with a more cluttered interface. What a waste.

[puredrifting]

I do know from conversations I have had with various Apple team members over the years that FCP X is a microscopic contributor to Apple revenues, it really is a speck of dust on the Apple machine. If they go to a subscription model,
FCP X users will abandon Apple in droves and even if they somehow kept a couple of million subscribers worldwide, the revenue stream would still be a tiny speck of dust in the overall Apple revenue scheme.

That's what makes it so puzzling, why? The money, to Apple, is almost nothing. So why alienate your user base, many of whom will stop buying Apple hardware. I probably will, as much as I hate Windoze. Without FCP X, there is little reason to stay on
Apple hardware for many of us who run businesses. I just built a $10K PC last year for live streaming, I will be loading my Resolve Studio license onto it, regardless. Dont be stupid Apple.

[DLD]

Apple will be the first to maximize FCP for its own combined line of ARM based hardware and software. So, will you stay on it, if you get a 50% performance improvement over the "closest competitor"? 75%? 100%? Many would.

[Imamacuser]

I started with FCP 4, and later moved to Premiere, and now I'm on Resolve, but even though I don't use FCP X, I still hope they don't go the subscription route. It would be another nail in the coffin of stupid decisions, and I'm still miffed at them for dropping Shake.

In effort to claim the thinnest laptops, they've thrown versatility and functionality out the window, and I'm at the point that I might move away from Apple products entirely, which is
saying a lot, as my username is I'm-a-Mac-user. Window's isn't nearly as crappy as it was 20 years ago, so I could probably live with it on an editing tower and install Linux on a laptop.

So in regards to video editing, that leaves us with Resolve, Edius, and LightWorks (kind of, they have a subscription option and an outright license for $438).

I hope Resolve never goes subscription, and doubt that it will as long as Grant is CEO. I think he's playing the long game, offer an almost full featured version of Resolve for free and let a whole generation of editors learn to edit on it, and what NLE and panel hardware do you think they'll buy when they're working professionally?

[Run&Gun]

I do know from conversations I have had with various Apple team members over the years that FCP X is a microscopic contributor to Apple revenues, it really is a speck of dust on the Apple machine. If they go to a subscription model,
FCP X users will abandon Apple in droves and even if they somehow kept a couple of million subscribers worldwide, the revenue stream would still be a tiny speck of dust in the overall Apple revenue scheme.

That's what makes it so puzzling, why? The money, to Apple, is almost nothing. So why alienate your user base, many of whom will stop buying Apple hardware. I probably will, as much as I hate Windoze. Without FCP X, there is little reason to stay on
Apple hardware for many of us who run businesses. I just built a $10K PC last year for live streaming, I will be loading my Resolve Studio license onto it, regardless. Dont be stupid Apple.

Except then you’d have to use Windows, which is still an operating system designed to torture people who have to use it. I used Windows for probably 11 years before switching to Mac and I swore I’d never go back. I get mad every time I get a text or call from my Mom when she has an issue with her laptop, because it is a Windows machine. I’m not even talking about the hardware, just the God-awful Windows OS. I may bite-the-bullet for her birthday or Christmas and buy her an Apple laptop JUST to save my sanity whenever she has issues and I have to try to figure it out. But most of the issues probably wouldn’t happen on a Mac.

[puredrifting]

Apple will be the first to maximize FCP for its own combined line of ARM based hardware and software. So, will you stay on it, if you get a 50% performance improvement over the "closest competitor"? 75%? 100%? Many would.

Not me. Majority of my editing is basic multicam, which my present hardware and FCP X versions handle just fine. I don't do much compositing or tons of layers, graphics in FCP X so all of the hot rod application of the new hardware is
basically lost on me. If I need to get "deep" with compositing, layers, graphics, etc. I'm hiring a motion graphics person using AE, I suck at graphics.

[puredrifting]

Except then you’d have to use Windows, which is still an operating system designed to torture people who have to use it. I get mad every time I get a text or call from my Mom when she has an issue with her laptop, because it is a Windows machine. I’m not even talking about the hardware, just the God-awful Windows OS. I may bite-the-bullet for her birthday or Christmas and buy her an Apple laptop JUST to save my sanity whenever she has issues and I have to try to figure it out. But most of the issues probably wouldn’t happen on a Mac.

Fully agree I hate Windoze and Microsoft, but my business partner is a Windows certified engineer and a Ph.D. who knows the finer points pretty well. If my PCs do dumb PC things, which I know they will, I have a built in tech support the next desk over ;-)
If I didn't have my partner, I would never go back to Windoze. He is our webcast engineer and does amazing things with Windoze. I, on the other hand, am barely functional to even navigate Windoze, having dumped PCs in the Windoze 95 days and went to Mac.

[Thomas Smet]

Other reason I don't think this will happen or is a bad move is Apple kind of has the pro apps to help sell computers. Moving to a subscription model not only hurts FCPX sales but could also potentially hurt Mac computer sales as well.

Sure there are a lot of designers and publishers out there using Adobe software on Macs but if FCPX goes subscription based it will be like the initial launch of FCPX all over again. Bad move. Very bad indeed.