My email has been filled with such a sense of loss in recent days; a deeply loved member of the family died unexpectedly before their time.
“Such a loss.” “What a waste.” “So unnecessary.” “They will be missed.”
The words are well meant, but don’t assuage the hurt.
They are gone, and they’re never coming back.
– – –
It tears my heart to read emails from people who built their lives around something – only suddenly to discover it’s gone. What do you do when the center of your life is missing?
What can I possible say that will comfort them? Mere words seem so… inadequate.
– – –
The silence, after the fact, is deafening. No reassurance, no apology, no remorse. “Building for the future!” “Good times are still to come!” “Not really that important.” Phrases that ring insincere and hollow at this moment of pain. At the depth of what’s missing. At the depth of what’s been done.
How can you love again when your heart is missing?
– – –
Clearly, this is not a time to give up. To sink into the black oblivion of self-destructive what-ifs. There is still hope for the future – though at the moment it may be hard to see.
In two years, I’m sure, we’ll be past this. In two years, I’m sure, we’ll look back on this as a bad memory. In two years, I’m sure, we’ll say that things are better. But they won’t be the same.
Because we still need to live through the next two years.
– – –
When someone we love dies, we move on. We make new friends. And we discover those who have been with us a long time to whom we have not properly paid attention. We continue our lives, and attempt to rebuild.
But that does not deny the sadness, the anger, and the loss. Or the memories of what was.
And it was so unnecessary.
Larry
24 Responses to Requiem for a Friend
Newer Comments →-
Nivardo Cavalcante says:
June 30, 2011 at 11:51 am
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Dave Heinzel says:
June 30, 2011 at 12:37 pm
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James Cude says:
June 30, 2011 at 12:48 pm
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David Kuhnen says:
June 30, 2011 at 1:19 pm
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yacine helali says:
June 30, 2011 at 4:48 pm
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Larry says:
June 30, 2011 at 5:21 pm
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David Cochran says:
June 30, 2011 at 5:34 pm
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Walter Biscardi says:
June 30, 2011 at 5:39 pm
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Peter says:
June 30, 2011 at 7:19 pm
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Peter says:
June 30, 2011 at 7:24 pm
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Phil Balsdon says:
June 30, 2011 at 8:06 pm
Newer Comments →Dear Larry!
Today I hate Apple, Proval and never return to buy some of their products.
As a marriage she cheated on me, I am hurt and sad. But there are those who want me well.
I’m going to your arms dear Adobe.
Thanks for everything Larry!
Well said. My sentiments exactly.
Sure, there’s no doubt we’ll all be past this in 2 years. But will we be past it on Apple’s editing software? Or hardware for that matter…
When you lose someone you love, you don’t seek to replace them with someone else who has the same name, that would only prolong the pain of the loss.
You need to move on and find someone new, someone who may be able to fill the shoes of the one you lost but won’t be a constant reminder of the pain you’re feeling now. You need someone you can depend on to be there as you move forward and can support you when you revisit old memories.
Larry,
Are you talking about a death in your family, literally, or Final cut Pro again? Just confusing for me sorry 🙂 love reading your newsletter and blog,
All the best
Yacine
Well, you could consider this an allegory.
larry
🙂 Well said Larry !
I was able to purchase FCP Studio 3 last Friday after reading this on Larry’s blog;
“* For the first time, two different versions of FCP can coexist on the same system. I’ve been running FCP 7 and FCP X on the same system for months.”
I purchased it at an Apple store in a mall. Little did I know that Apple would decide to pull it from the shelves a few hours later. I don’t even have a computer that will run it but I thought, I make a living with this software (and Avid) and I have to be able to offer my services with FCP. So I have it waiting to be installed in an upcoming Mac computer coming soon. I have been taking a look at Premiere Pro and it looks really useful. My inner voice also beckons me to consider buying Avid Media Composer 5.5, just to be ready for anything that may come my way.
I still like the Mac platform and will keep working with it. I guess I will wait a year or so to see if FC X will be worth…probably will. But my gut tells me that I will be working more on FCP 7 and Premiere Pro more than anything. Apple will continue to make a ton of money with their consumer way of thinking but they will definitively will have a really hard time selling the mantra of “Professionalism” to hard working editors that make a living in the business of cutting.Anyway, thank you Larry for keeping us informed.
Peace
David
For me the greatest loss is Color. Absolutely no reason to have killed that. It can work with both Adobe and Avid via interchanges. They could have sold it as a stand alone item for $400 or $500 and it would have still sold. Heck I paid $5,000 for Final Touch HD years ago when it wasn’t half as good as Color came to be.
They can do what they want with the editing platform, but killing off a perfectly good piece of software “because they can” really makes no sense. That’s a huge reason why I made the final decision to move away from Apple no matter what they “might or might not release” over the next 6 – 12 month. Their record with “pro apps” is abysmal in terms of EOL’ing products for no apparent reason.
They are a consumer company first and foremost so at the very least they should have sold Shake, Color and the entire Studio package to a third party. I would LOVE to see The Foundry get a hold of everything and continue to develop it into 64bit the right way.
Alas, we know that will never happen because Apple is the black hole anymore for good professional apps. Fortunately we built our entire business around Final Cut Pro so that means it’s an easy switch to move to Adobe or Avid as both will play nicely in our facility.
Well, you’ve now gone through the first four stages of grief. Only one more to go!
Me? I’ve been stuck on bargaining.
This is similar to if Ford or General Motors had decided one day to release only electric powered vehicles, remove all other gas powered vehicles from their showrooms and then close all service facility workshops for those vehicles. The impact on sales would be catastrophic and customers will go and buy a foreign import.
Yes electronic motor vehicles are coming and will one day be functional and accepted and be good for the world, but just like FCP-X the technology is not ready for an instant transition.
Eat some humble pie Apple, put FCS and support for it back on the market until FCP-X grows up. Not just for your loyal and stranded professional customers but for your own profits and reputation. Remember too a lot of your hobbyist / semi-professional customers bought FCS and FCE because they wanted to emulate the professional movie makers utilising your software.