Will DigiDesign stay supporting Apple/OSX

[Chief Technician]

Has it occurred to anyone here that if Mac OS X wasn't a dual processor OS by default that Digidesign would be investing the resources in using both processors? If Windows XP did all of this stuff that Digidesign is currently working on natively (if your program runs on XP it does all these things by default), then the shoe would be on the other foot. Please do not bring up the fact that they didn't support dual processors on OS 9. OS 9 is an entirely different animal. I think everyone that has posted in this thread to date understands that.

Did anyone see Pro Tools running on a G5 at MacWorld NY 2003? The G5 was fresh out of the gate, and Digidesign was already beta testing it on the G5. Did that concern XP users then?

Sure, testing and compatibility cannot be easy or quick. I appreciate knowing that systems are tested, qualified, and that if I have a problem I can get tech support. You would be surprised at how many companies like to point fingers at other companies when you have a problem with hardware or software. Digidesign is not one of them.

Besides, DigiCS was here earlier this month saying that Digidesign was not abandoning the Mac.

[Vaphoron]

Hopefully this will make some people stop spreading rumors for a while.

One issue we hear a lot about is the choice of computer platform to run our products on. Some people have concerns about whether we plan to continue to support their platform (Mac or PC) and which computer is supposedly better to use for audio.

We have a lot of customers on both sides of the fence. At Digidesign, we consider this area to be the customer’s choice, driven by their preference. That doesn’t mean that we don’t wish it were simpler — it’s a lot of work to support different, ever-changing operating systems. Various "dot" releases and service packs require updates and increased testing all of the time. As "Moore’s Law" famously dictates, we have seen tremendous ongoing price/performance value coming out of the processor families that run modern CPUs, and all of us benefit from it. And while modern operating systems go through teething pains as they mature, the end result is a more stable and (hopefully) friendlier computing environment.

So which platform is better? There is actually no clear answer to this question. Over time, we’ve narrowed the gap on Pro Tools performance parity for both platforms and worked with third parties to ensure that their plug-ins are available for both platforms as well. It wasn’t always this way, and sometimes not every feature is available across both platforms from day one on a given release. But it’s getting better all the time — we take that commitment pretty seriously. The bottom line is you get to choose — and that should be good. Support for both platforms from Digidesign will continue to be strong.

Dave Lebolt
Digidesign General Manager

[danickstr]

i see no point in digi continuing protools tdm support for either computer. the proprietary os would solve a lot of stability issues for them and simplify the writing of code by a thousand times (well, maybe not that many). when someone spends 15k for a system, why not buy a black box to put it in and then my life would definitely be happier. i dont use a PT rig for anything other than PT and i have found it is FOOLish to do so. so buy a mac and be well, or buy a PC and be well, but my boggle is due to them trying to shoehorn it into this dynamic system software that they do not control. stop the mad race, and just own a goshdang OS. save us from snow jobs and bill grates lunacy.

[Chief Technician]

i dont use a PT rig for anything other than PT and i have found it is FOOLish to do so.

I think it is foolish to use a computer only for PT. This may have been true in the days of yore (Mac OS 7), but now it is moot. My systems, on both OS 9 and OS X, do everything from checking email to making quick DVDs with iDVD. The last thing I want is a computer for PT and a second computer for everything else.

If you can't build a system that can do everything, the builder of the system is doing something wrong.

[ckevperry]

I think it is foolish to use a computer only for PT.

The fact is yes, you can use it for many things. But since it is put on a computer we are open to stability problems. That is the price we pay. The foundation (OS) is everchanging. I'll take a black box and a seperate computer for email any day of the week. I don't try and make a dinner table out of my console just coz I don't want to go buy a table.

[Chief Technician]

The fact is yes, you can use it for many things. But since it is put on a computer we are open to stability problems. That is the price we pay. The foundation (OS) is everchanging. I'll take a black box and a seperate computer for email any day of the week. I don't try and make a dinner table out of my console just coz I don't want to go buy a table.

I will agree to disagree with you.

[Andre Knecht]

I wish Digidesign would hurry up and release the long-rumored first coming of its HolyTools. (Pro is soooooo "-sumer.")
No interface needed - "it just knows."
No manual needed - Nine fixed commandments (+ a user-defined tenth, are all you'll need for eternity.)
Best of all, it's... er, platform agnostic.

(Speaking of sticks... should you have a really big and heavy one, and should you accidentally drop it on any one toe of yours(*), could you please come back and then write about it here for a while? That would make for another really good topic - second only to this one, of course.)

After that, please spare a little "extry" noggin' power and help out with these:

• Will the Cubs ever win the Tour De France?
• Is it further from San Diego than it is by bus?

Thanks!


(*) I really don't recommend it. Were it to actually happen... that would be different. In fact, a whole 'nutter story.

[auxsend1]

As soon as Apple comes out w/ their own audio hardware that is on the level of HD we'll start to see real speculation about Digi leaving the Mac platform. Competition is good for us, so here's hoping for Apple to make some surprising moves in the near future....

[danickstr]

uh oh. i am getting a deja vu...now if only robmacki pt nyc and rockridge would join in, it would really be a party.

Discuss amongst yourselves...PT on a BeOS blackbox with a browser and support from peak and ....duh duh duh....Vision. Ah what a platform that would be. no more keeping up with the jobses.

[Magno]

Other question: almost people have used a lot of plugins TDM on MACOS system, then everything will be losted in trash? These things are rumors only. Be quiet guys!