Apple quietly sells the old version of Final Cut Pro

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Apple has begun selling discontinued versions of its Final Cut Studio software following widespread complaints about its replacement.

Apple's bold feature changes in Final Cut X left many long time Final Cut Pro users extremely unhappy. It also provided a way for rivals such as Adobe and Avid to regain business they had previously lost to Apple by selling cut down versions of software that maintained compatibility with older Final Cut Pro projects.

However Macrumors called Apple and found out that its US telesales department is offering customers the option to buy the discontinued version of Final Cut Studio for $1,000. It is extremely rare for Apple to sell anything but the latest versions of its products, whether hardware or software, and according to Macrumors Final Cut Studio is available only through Apple's telesales channel.

While Apple's bold decisions on hardware and software design usually pay off, in the audio/visual market where things move a little more slowly, rapid changes such as Apple's decision to discontinue support for previous Final Cut Pro file formats was not welcome.

It will be interesting to see if Apple will view this as a watershed moment in the way it treats its commercial users. While Apple makes the majority of its cash fron consumers, its grip on the creative market is as strong as ever and it is unlikely that it wants to annoy too many people that spend tens of thousands of dollars at the drop of a hat.

Although it's unlikely that Apple would admit to being caught out by its professional users, it is clear there are some users who don't take Apple's word as holy writ when it comes to upgrading software. µ