Dear Mr. Jobs,

I was happy to hear that soon you'll be back at the helm of the most inspiring company in the market today. We are all looking forward to your next keynote.

However, I have a request for you - please don't forget your Pro users. And no, I am not talking about Final Cut Studio 3.

I have a Mac for couple of years, and I've become one of the most active Mac ambassadors in Israel. I have a video podcast called Mac Anonymous, the first Hebrew video podcast about Mac. I've written several blogs about Mac and the transition from PC, and convinced many of my friends to buy one, even though they cost so much in Israel.

When asked what do I like Mac so much, I would say two things:

1. I see my laptop more than anything else during the day, so it better be beautiful.

2. With a Mac, the gap between vision and reality is a single click, with Final Studio and iLife.

However, I am afraid that Apple's latest announcements are changing my second statement.

Two main hardware changes makes it extremely difficult to use your laptops as creative hub:

1. Removal of one firewire port

2. Removal of Express Card slot

Now it is impossible to capture HDV with 15" Macbook Pro - one needs two FW ports for that (one for the camera and one for a fast hard disk), and there is only one in the latest models. This could have been bypassed with an Express Card Firewire adapter - but it was removed as well.

A lot of Pro equipment is using Express Card slot. I am using a mobile editing, high performance F2 Sonnet HD. I Can't use it with the new laptops. Matrox released some amazing capture devices using Express Card - bye bye to those as well. So if I want to use  my laptop and  HDV camera, the same format used by indie filmmakers, ENG and video bloggers, I have to buy 17" Macbook Pro - an able machine, that is way too large,  heavy and expensive for my needs.

I love Final Cut Studio. You changed the market with its features and pricing. I love the fact that I can use my laptop for my day to day work and for my video editing.

But it feels that you are neglecting the pro users.

I hope we will see more pro features in the Macbook Pro line.

Sincerely Yours,

Kfir Pravda

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This letter was sent to Steve Jobs' email, found in online forums. I have no way to validate this address. It will be helpful if you'll share and retweet it as much as possible.

Thanks!

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Michael Rosenblum is the godfather of video journalism. He was a one man band video crew back at the 80's and since then he trained and taught generations of video journalists this craft.

Though poorly shot, here is a great presentation he did to UK journalists where he describes the history and reality of video journalists :

Michael Rosenblum @ Society of Editors 08 from Paul Bradshaw on Vimeo.

Michael Rosenblum @ Society of Editors 08 pt2 from Paul Bradshaw on Vimeo.
Michael Rosenblum @ Society of Editors pt.3 from Paul Bradshaw on Vimeo.

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Take a look at this short video - if you are a video editor, you would definitely love it.

Edit Day in Final Cut Pro from Glenn McElhose on Vimeo.

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