Educational FCP
 

I just came to this new job and I have no idea how they bought the educational FCP version but now I am wondering if we can upgrade it. Any thoughts on this? They are so unorganized they don't even have the proper perwork on where they bought it from but the bottom line it is a legit copy of FCP 4, but the educational version. Anyone knows if it is upgradable :) Thanks.

I've read that the current versions of Apple's educational software are definitely not upgradeable (when the upgrade requests a serial number it will reject the educational serial number). I don't know whether your FCP4 number will be accepted.

But you might want to (nicely) ask your employer if they're aware that they are violating Apple's software license to use the Academic version unless they are "students, faculty, staff and administration attending and/or working at an educational institutional facility (i.e., college campus, public or private K-12 schools)". The full license agreement is here:

http://www.apple.com/legal/sla/finalcutpro5.html

If they're running a business they should be able to purchase a legal copy of FCP.

it's an educational field. That's not the issue, the issue was if it is upgradable so I finally contacted Apple directly and they gave me the whole deal. It is not upgradable but you can re-buy it for a special price so the problem is solved. So now you know what to answer in case someone else has the same problem :)

Yes, that's another matter entirely. Since you said "I just came to this new job and I have no idea how they bought the educational FCP version" that implied they were not legitimate educational users. If you can buy at academic prices then you'll certainly come out ahead, with FCP running at $300.

Those of us in the "real world" had to pay $1,000 for our first copy, then another $400 for an upgrade. You can buy 4 different versions at the academic pricing and still come out ahead on that deal...

http://www.apple.com/education/hed/f...urchasing.html