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Originally Posted by postfader  In the case of say the bug for fixing sample rate conversion, I was essentially told by an Apple Logic manager/engineer that it's just not a high priority/serverity for Apple to update/fix/replace the old code in core audio to do accurate SRC. In contrast, having an accurate sample rate conversion algorithm was a high priority for an organization like Bias Inc. (who fixed their SRC in Peak 5). So I see this as a case where Apple priorotizes (the same) bug as very low, and Bias clearly prioritized it as very high.
As far as tranparency goes, while Apple gives you some indication of your bug priority, this does not always correspond to when/if a bug you file will ever get fixed. And you can't see the frequency, or how many (other) people complained about and/or filed the same bug. So if myself and 10 other engineers are complaining about poor SRC, and 1000 other people are complaining that Logic does not work well with Reason, or that viewing audio in the arrange window is not sample accurate, then how is management going to decide what needs to be fixed by when?
Typically, management is going to try and balance frequency (how many times a bug is reported/occurs - as a measure of how many users are affected), with severity/impact (how broken/bad is it really), and then also factor in some input from the marketing department about what features the next release should have to stay current with competitors etc., - before they dole out specific bugs to engineers to fix according to a schedule for the next release(s). But as you say, this weighting process of factors to decide what should get done/fixed (if at all) is anything but transparent.
I submit Apple is not making money from marketing/advancing Logic Pro as the best audio plugin/host program for editing audio, doing sample rate conversion, mixing or mastering high resolution audio, or performing other pro audio tasks (despite the $1000 list price). From everything I've seen at their seminars, and in every point release since Logic 7.0, Apple is marketing Logic to musicians (and not audio engineers) by increasing the number of bundled plugins, adding MIDI/sequencing ehhancements, addressing loop based "composition", etc. The "technical" reps doing the Apple Pro Logic seminars I've talked to clearly don't even comprehend that different DAW programs could do sample rate conversion differenty/better then Logic Pro (let alone that there is other DAW software with more then 32 bit float resolution in the audio engine/mix buss).
So Apple has demonstrated to me (by neglect, and in comparison to other software vendors like Bias Inc.) that, e.g., SRC bugs (which DSP wise is very broken), is not a high priority ("money making") bug compared to everything else they've done with Logic since the release of 7.0. Sadly, all it takes is one mid-level development manager to skew development priorites one way or the other about what bugs get attention and resources (even if the software developers working for that manager would prioritize the bugs differently). This is a far cry from how we were able to directly email technical staff at Emagic in Germany, and get bugs fixed on a more timely basis (without even using a bug tracking system). |
I think we're basically in violent agreement here. Cutting to the chase, Apple is not fixing the bugs that you think are important to fix. This is not to say that the stuff getting fixed is not technically important; it just doesn't seem to be important to you (or to me, for that matter.)
The effects of a big company are a mixed bag. Transparency and access to the engineers tends to go away, but a lot more resources can be brought to bear. Logic came from Emagic with tremendous amounts of legacy code that had to be rewritten to bring it into the modern age (OSX, modern window management, etc.) I suspect that if Apple had not bought Emagic, Logic would be much further behind on the curve.
The success of Logic in the high end market boils down to how seriously Apple wants to go after that market. There are mixed messages there; the collaboration with Apogee is a positive, but the seeming lack of fixing certain bugs is not. Apple will never make a lot of money selling Logic to pros, versus the Unwashed Masses, but there is a lot of value in operating in that market to help draw in customers at other tiers. Everybody who dreams about being a pro wants to use the tools the pros use, so it's worth their while to give the pros what they need.
I'm less pessimistic than you about Apple's intentions in this area, but all we can do is wait and see, and vote with our feet if they don't see fit to give us what we need.