Edible Apple

The Register has an interesting article discussing how the success of Apple’s suite of video and editing software, and specifically Final Cut Pro, is rendering certain jobs obsolete.

As the cost of video-editing equipment has come down and the capabilities of commodity server-based software, such as Apple’s Final Cut Pro, have increased layers of complex older technology, with machines costing hundreds of thousands, even millions of pounds, being rendered redundant. The people in the industry whose work and skills are based on this equipment face job destruction. They might as well be working in analogue camera film developing and printing. Just as digitisation swept away those jobs and trades so the same is happening in video production and editing.

With software like Final Cut, the video editing server is becoming the single window through which video editors do their work, using plug-ins to Final Cut such as Motion, where necessary. When constructing a video obituary of a rock star they don’t want to have to send a runner to a tape vault somewhere. It takes too long, it’s uncertain what they’ll find and the tapes may not actually be properly readable when brought back to the editing suite.