Neil Hughes
Various claims of refunds have surfaced, and AppleInsider can confirm that at least one person who asked a refund from Apple had their request granted.
This person sent an e-mail to Apple in which they said they believe the new Final Cut Pro X is not a "functional application" meeting the standards of Final Cut Pro 7. "It has zero professional features that I can use in my post facility," they wrote.
In their response, an Apple advisor admitted Final Cut Pro X "does not contain properties that were highly regarded in the last version." They also acknowledged that it is "frustrating" to pay "good money" for a product that "doesn't work as expected."
The customer was promised a credit for the $299.99 purchase made on the Mac App Store. It was said that the funds should be posted to the credit card on the receipt for the purchase within five to seven business days.
"Again, I want to apologize for the inadequacy of this version of Final Cut Pro," the advisor wrote. "Please be assured that we are always looking for ways to improve your experience with the iTunes Store and Apple."
The candid nature of Apple's response and apology was surprising to the person who received the refund. "I've never seen an Apple employee apologetic over the 'inadequacies' of their software before," they wrote to AppleInsider.
The prospect of refunds for other Final Cut Pro X purchases is the latest public relations strategy from Apple in attempting to quell unhappiness with the latest version of Final Cut Pro. As of Tuesday afternoon, the software on the Mac App Store has an average user rating of two-and-a-half stars out of a possible five, and of the 1,275 ratings collected, 563 are for just one star.
One popular review posted on the Mac App Store refers to Final Cut Pro X as Windows Vista, referring to Microsoft's much maligned operating system update. "I can't believe what apple did with FCPX," they wrote, "this is no longer a professional application... this is just an upgrade of iMovie!!"
Final Cut Pro X was released along with Motion 5 and Compressor on the Mac App Store a week ago. The software was quickly met with condemnation from a group of outspoken professionals who believe the new product is vastly inferior to its predecessor.
Apple made a quick transition to Final Cut Pro X, declaring Final Cut Studio, Express and Server — which included Final Cut Pro 7 — as "end of life" products as of June 21. AppleInsider first reported in May of 2010 that Apple planned to widen the appeal of Final Cut Pro with features geared toward "prosumers" and more advanced home users.
A growing chorus of complaints even prompted some Apple product managers to attempt to address concerns over Final Cut Pro X late last week. A number of product managers spoke with The New York Times, and revealed that features like multicamera editing and support for RED digital cameras will be added with future updates.
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167 Comments
Well, nice apology. Apple knows they made a prosumer app.
In a year or two, once Apple continuously rolls out added features, all the critics will be silent, and they will tout FCP as the best editing software on the planet. Every critic says its a fantastic foundation, but lacks features they need. Well, that's how Apple rolls. They are utterly unafraid to destroy the status quo if they believe in their vision for the future.
It will get better. Relax. In the meantime, nobody is ripping FCP7 out of your hands.
Well, nice apology. Apple knows they made a prosumer app.
They also only charged a "prosumer" $300 for it, not the standard $1000+
I'll just say this here, too...
I wasn't at all upset about the removal of features in Final Cut Pro X. Apple's known for removing TONS of features in their products that receive the suffix "X". Mac OS X. QuickTime X. Final Cut Pro X. Oh, and iMovie '06 to '08. All had fewer features than the previous versions.
And that's okay. OS X added features back... and more... to become the best OS available today. QuickTime X is receiving some (not all) of QuickTime 7's features in Lion. And even more. Now QuickTime X can save audio files instead of saving an audio-only file as an MOV (go die in a fire for this, QuickTime 7). iMovie '08 sucked, but iMovie '09 was great, and iMovie '11 is even better; with far more features than iMovie '06 ever had.
Now, I've said that. That was my position on Final Cut Pro X, as well; I though that Apple was selecting a core set of features that they knew would work beautifully with this new program and leaving others out until they'd been fully tested to be included at a later date in an update.
But this is nonsense. Apple included the features. They're just turned off. They work. We just aren't allowed to use them.
This is ABJECT NONSENSE. This is tantamount to Apple including an NTFS write driver in OS X, but leaving it turned off with only the ability to read Boot Camp partitions. OH, WAIT. THEY DID THAT, TOO.
Now about the refunds: WHINERS. They'll come straight back once the first real update is pushed.
In a year or two, once Apple continuously rolls out added features, all the critics will be silent, and they will tout FCP as the best editing software on the planet. Every critic says its a fantastic foundation, but lacks features they need. Well, that's how Apple rolls. They are utterly unafraid to destroy the status quo if they believe in their vision for the future.
It will get better. Relax. In the meantime, nobody is ripping FCP7 out of your hands.
You aren't even allowed to buy new legitimate copies of FCP7. What if you need more seats to complete a project?