Final Cut Pro 7 and Snow Leopard

Its been just over a month since Apple launched an upgrade to Final Cut Pro. The new Apple Final Cut Studio. Interestingly this not being called Final Cut Studio 3, but just the new Final Cut Studio. Final Cut Pro 6 has become Final Cut Pro 7.

Color, Cinema Tools, DVD Studio Pro, Motion and SoundTrack Pro have all been upgraded with many new features. Plenty of sites have reviewed new features in this upgrade. I plan on doing a review of features for PAL and especially film workflow as soon as I get my copy.

Then, a few days ago, Apple launched their new operating system Snow Leopard - MacOSX 10.6.

Should FCP 6 users do these upgrades? And upgrade to Snow Leopard and FCP 7?

Both or just one?

If you have FCP 6 running on a G5, or PowerBook, or G4-based iMac or MacMini. Any machine that is not an Intel Mac. You cannot run FCP 7 or Snow Leopard. Leopard and FCP 6 is the end of the road for these systems. Its a great time to buy a new Mac.

If you have an Intel Mac you can consider doing the FCP 7 upgrade. You could do a clean install of Snow Leopard first, then install FCP 7. Before you clean up, make sure you back up everything. And have your FCS2 or FCP 6 serial number handy. I you've lost it then you're out of luck. You need to buy the whole FCP 7 again.

If you use Kona cards, then you need to wait till they update their drivers. Blackmagic cards have updated drivers though.

If you don't want to risk Snow Leopard just yet, just do the FCP 7 install over FCP 6. Incidentally, even if you buy FCP 7 as an upgrade, the disks work as clean install as well. You just need your FCP 6 serial number handy. Its a good isea to write the FCP 6 number on the FCP 7 disks for the future.

And, bear in mind that FCP 7 does not include LiveType which has been dropped. So it may be a good idea to install that first from the FCP 6 disks, if you need LiveType badly. If you've never used LiveType, you may find some of its features in Motion now.

In general, how does one get Snow Leopard?

All new Macs will have Snow Leopard.

Most of us who use Leopard now, can buy Snow Leopard for under $ 30 so it should be about Rs 1500 in India. If you have Tiger, you have to buy the Mac Box Set which includes Snow Leopard and iLife and iWork - all for under $ 130 or about Rs 6500.

If you have a Mac bought after June 2009 you may qualify for an 'up-to-date program' which gets you Snow Leopard for under $ 10 about Rs 500.

Like in all OS upgrades, some applications will work with Snow Leopard and some will not.

Apple lists Snow Leopard incompatible software at their support site. If you use any of these for your business, you should not upgrade to Snow Leopard.

The good folks at Macintouch have compiled a list of Snow Leopard compatible software at their site.

If you are considering getting a new Mac, and if you have an app that shows up as incompatible with Leopard, you need to consider waiting till it becomes compatible or get an alternative to that app.

A bit of trivia on MacOSX

The operating just before Snow Leopard was Leopard or MacOSX 10.5.

Before that were

Tiger or MacOSX 10.4,

Panther or MacOSX 10.3

Jaguar - MacOSX 10.2.

As far as I remember, MacOSX 10.0 and 10.1 had no feline names, though I believe 10.1 was code-named Puma.

For those who have no idea what MacOSX is, go to the What is MacOSX page at Apple.

Software buying - doing the right thing

For about the past few years I've not had reason to use serial seeker, or serial box or sites/software like that. Or cracks to software, and 'patches'. Sometimes I've just not used software I could not afford.

When I like a software, or if I need it, I just buy it. No, I'm not showing off how rich I am, its just about doing the right thing. And I end up spending less than US$ 100 in a year. That's Rs 5000, that's all. I know even well-to-do Indian film producers and directors, who drive in BMWs, Land Rovers, Prosches and Audis. These guys use serial seeker but give sound bytes to TV channels on how piracy affects the film industry. Yeah, right.

A lot of small software are available at huge discounts at MacUpdate from where I get a regular newsletter. if I like something, often times I just wait till it gets cheaper. And there are lots of free software where one doesn't have to pay, but one can donate if its useful. I donate as well.

Software I've bought or donated for are...

Neooffice, Pixelmator, Transmit, ffMpegX, Too much too soon, Clipfinder, Parallels Desktop, NetBarrierX, DVDRemasterPro, Paperless, Multiplex, MoneyWell, RipIt, Posterino, BetterZip, Circus Ponies NoteBook, Jets'n'Guns Gold, CuteClips, Voila, MapDesign and others I can't even remember.

Not many of these costed me over $ 30. But have saved me tonnes of time which I gratefully pay for.

Software that's free and as useful as some paid stuff are...

Filezilla, Cyberduck, Gimpshop, Kompozer, Seashore, Silverkeeper, TubeTV, VLC

I don't have, on any of my 3 computers any of MS-Office, Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Lightroom.

In their place I use Neooffice, Pages, Numbers, Pixelmator, Kompozer, iPhoto. Even FCP on all my machines is either bought or presented to me. Considering how much I've earned from editing, I found it appropriate to pay for FCP. And upgrades over the years. I've paid for all of that.

So if you need a serial or a crack, do please write to me and let me know what you're looking for. I'll give you a good alternative or a case for buying it.