QUOTE: how would this screw things up if you do not have fcp on your laptop?

Perhaps not at all. You'd still be able to backup your BPAV folders to the laptop even without any of the Sony utilites. And if you don't have FCP on your laptop now then you can't convert files to MOV anyway even with the existing XDCAM Transfer software.

QUOTE: What would this mean to the freelancer shooting for a variety of different producers using different systems?

Probably nothing at all to the freelancer. The best workflow is to give the client a copy of the BPAV folder(s) and that can still be done very easily. No change there. However, if the client uses FCP, then they'd face the same hassles the rest of us FCP users are going to face when it comes time to import to FCP.

And according to Bob, if your client uses Avid, then they will have smooth sailing whether they use the new XDCAM Browser or the older software.

so is this an attempt to make FCP hard to use? A veiled attempt to push Vegas?

Panasonic is looking good! Their new DSLR competitor looks interesting at under $5000.

Ed, I assume you must be joking, so I won't spend time explaining why that is not the case. It would take a hell of a lot more than this to get me to throw away my Macs, buy all new software, and put my hands on a PC again. Yuck!