The "We Want a New Macpro" group page on the social networking site had garnered over 4,000 likes as of late Thursday and a number of comments from group members calling for either a Mac Pro update or concrete information from Apple about its plans for the high-end machine.
According to the page, the petition was started by Lou Borella, a self-described "professional editor and graphic animator" in the New York City area, earlier in May.
On May 9, Borella posted an open letter to Apple asking for "a little clarity" about the Mac Pro.
"Its been neglected for far too long. We realize all the success of the iPad and iPhone and we're really happy with our new toys," he wrote. "But unfortunately many of us need to make decisions on hardware for professional uses that allow us to make a living."
The letter went on to say that professional software applications, such as Adobe Creative Suite 6, AVID, Protools and Smoke, require "the most powerful hardware available." In addition, creative professionals need configurable systems for their business.
"The iMac is not the answer for these situations," he said.
Borella is seeking for a "timeframe" for a new Mac Pro update or official confirmation as to whether the line is "dead."
"It's not too much to ask. We cannot wait any longer and it's really not fair to string us along like this," Borella concluded, also signing the letter on behalf of the "Creative Community."
According to an informal poll posted to the page last week, 267 people are willing to wait until "shortly after" the Worldwide Developers Conference in mid-June, while 47 people said they would wait until the end of this year. 143 respondents said they would wait until the Mac Pro was "officially discontinued" before taking the next step.
A second poll found that 197 people are willing to wait because their "current computer still works fine." 131 others said they would build a "Hackintosh," a custom-built computer running an unauthorized copy of OS X. Finally, 47 people said they would switch back to Microsoft Windows.
Apple did not immediately respond to a request for comment on both the petition and its plans for the Mac Pro.
AppleInsider reported last year that, according to people familiar with the matter, Apple's management had been undecided about the long-term future of the Mac Pro. Sales executives reportedly believed that the machine's days are numbered because sales of the workstations have dwindled in recent years.
Apple's neglect of the Mac Pro was especially felt last year as all of the other Mac models received upgrades adding Thunderbolt and Sandy Bridge processors. Some have even suggested that Thunderbolt is Apple's alternative to high-end workstations.
Customers have reported repeated delays of build-to-order models of the Mac Pro recently. Late last month, an AppleInsider reader reporter that his order from March had yet to ship and was still in processing.
The Mac Pro's important to Apple's bottom line has diminished as the company's profits have increasingly skewed toward mobile devices and the iPhone has come to account for the bulk of its revenue. Apple sold 1.2 million desktops in the second quarter of fiscal 2012, compared to 2.82 million notebooks during the period. Mac revenue for the quarter amounted to $5.1 billion, much less than the $22.7 billion in revenue from the iPhone and related products.
Though Apple has in the past been known as a niche hardware and software maker catering to creative professionals, the company has shown a willingness to adapt to better serve its mainstream customers. For instance, it announced plans to discontinue its Xserve server in 2010. Though the company redirected customers to its Mac Pro as a Mac-based server alternative, it has curiously not updated the Mac Pro since July 2010.
The Cupertino, Calif., company upset a number of professional video editors last year with the release of Final Cut Pro X. Power users complained that the new release more closely resembled iMovie, Apple's entry-level video editing software, than previous versions of Final Cut Pro. AppleInsider exclusively reported in May 2010 that Apple was planning to make Final Cut more of a "prosumer" product, but the company promised at the time that its pro customers would "love" it.
211 Comments
1. Facebook.
2. Absolutely. No. Weight. in the real world.
3. I don't want it discontinued, either. But Apple will talk to its users thereof directly, not some… petition. Remember pre-FCPX? They gave software to people early to test it and to make it better. And they listened to the people after launch and made changes.
I still trust Apple to count on its pro users. Is six years ago too far back to cite? The first 15" MacBook Pro. Lack of FireWire 800. Threw a fit, brought it back. Apple will either ignore pros completely and discontinue it or build a breakthrough new machine designed to take the best advantage of Thunderbolt possible.
CS6 runs fine on Snow Leopard. If I could build my own dual xeon Hacintosh I would be fine. Trouble is that it is not that easy. The MBs that are somewhat compatible are just not up to spec, especially the audio, and of course no TB which is going to be pretty important for video applications. So unless there are some breakthroughs on the Hackintosh front we are apparently stuck with iMac as an upgrade path. I have nothing against iMacs. I have a couple at home but I really need slots for my Intensity pro card and more memory, fast internal HDs, etc. for professional work at the office.
Apple speaks when they are ready to speak. They release when they are ready to release. They don't owe anyone information etc. They are not going to change tactics because of some petition etc. If these folks don't wait to wait then they are welcome to go buy a windows system etc. it isn't going to bother Apple if they lose those sales. Yeah we all know how the creative pros stood by Apple blah blah. But that time is done. It died way before Steve did. The writing has been on the walls for years. Either you embrace the change or you move on.
[quote name="Tallest Skil" url="/t/150280/mac-pro-petition-gains-traction-as-pro-users-seek-information#post_2115560"]I still trust Apple to count on its pro users. Is six years ago too far back to cite? The first 15" MacBook Pro. Lack of FireWire 800. Threw a fit, brought it back. Apple will either ignore pros completely and discontinue it or build a breakthrough new machine designed to take the best advantage of Thunderbolt possible. [/quote] [I]Post hoc, ergo propter hoc.[/I] There is no evidence that shows that Apple had no intention of including FW800 from the PB to the MBP transition when it was feasible for them to do so. That transition also dropped the 8x SuperDrive with DVD+R DL in favour of a 4x SuperDrive with [U][B][I]no[/I][/B][/U] DVD±DL. I don't recall any assumption that Apple was going to always use the lower performance and worse feature SuperDrive. It was unwelcome for those that needed the PB's SuperDrive but those that wanted a better one in a MBP knew it would arrive when it was feasible.
And they were doing so well up until the "Macpro" part. They did get the first four words correct, though.
Great Job!