Re: Thank you Apple - and don't change course. Please

[David Cherniack] "NLEs are the most complex applications in computerdom."

I taught myself FCP, but stuff like AutoCAD and Maya is waaaaay more complex. Full-featured NLEs aren't trivial, but they aren't the most complex software out there by a long shot.

[David Cherniack] "What great applications have they ever developed in house from scratch? Even the non-application OSX is derived from elsewhere. "

I guess it depends on your definition of "great", but for OS X's part, the engineers that built it at NeXT went to work at Apple and turned it into OS X, so it isn't like Apple didn't have or doesn't now have top-teir engineering talent. Autodesk didn't develop Smoke, they bought Discreet. After Effects originated outside Adobe. Avid acquired DS. What's the difference?

I agree Apple's priorities are clearly different than those of the other Big A's, but let's keep things in perspective. I'm assuming by "high-end" you are referring to studio feature motion pictures and broadcast episodic TV. FCP was dominant below that, and arguably still punching above its weight class when it was used to win the last two Oscars for editing.

FCP had only recently broken into the high-end by the time it was scuttled, Premiere Pro has yet to achieve the same cachet (and it looks like it will soon), and the rest of editing's high-end has been dominated by Avid since the NLE replaced the flatbed.

Best,
Andy