Those starting up Pro Tools 11 after a recent upgrade will have found that the splash screen on start-up has changed. Unlike earlier versions of Pro Tools, including early releases of the current version, the number has gone and been replaced with simply ‘Pro Tools Software.’
Some thought it was simply a case of Avid stating the bleeding obvious, but the reason is likely to be connected to the recent discussions around the way Avid push out Pro Tools updates in the future.
If you are waiting for a Pro Tools 12 grand announcement there is a high likelihood you ain’t going to see it, instead the numbers as product names are being dropped and you’ll simply be able to tell which version you are running in the lower right hand corner of the about screen.
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There’s nothing new about this, companies like Adobe has been doing it for some time, for example if you own a copy of Adobe Photoshop CC it recently went from 14.0, 14.1, 14.2 and now 15.0 without any grand announcement.
So Pro Tools 11 is perhaps the last version to have flags out, balloons and ticker tape - instead those on subscriptions will wake up to find a new version in an update.
Is Pro Tools’ number up? Probably yes, but the whole version number as a grand announcement was designed for the era of buying software in boxes and queuing around the block all night to be ‘first’, in a world of digital delivery developers can drip feed the updates out.
It doesn’t make for a big product launch, but to be honest Avid has never been very good at those, so this may be just what they’ve been waiting for.