A sign of success: dilemmas

I thought it would be months until I had a couple of high-class dilemmas like the two I have at the moment. They’re no big deal, but for an (as yet) unprofessional writer such as I, I’m surprised that they’re already here.

The first one is simple. As I’ve managed to get a good number of links to my Final Cut plugins and tips, I got attention from a company that sells plugins. It might be that yesterday’s post was prompted by that. A nice man from Noise Industries sent me an unlock code for their FxFactory plugins.

I probably wouldn’t have written yesterday’s post if he hadn’t. I would have written it eventually, but having access to the full version of FxFactory made it easier. I know this because I downloaded the trial version back in September. I didn’t write about Quartz programming then. I liked the system but didn’t plan to teach myself Quartz visual programming at that time, and didn’t know I would be creating Final Cut plugins. I can be forgiven for writing about something interesting I’ve recently discovered more about I suppose.

The catch was I missed something out of yesterday’s post: that there is another plugin system that gives Final Cut users access to Quartz composition, that created by CHV Electronics. This wasn’t an oversight, I mentioned it while writing and thought that it would be a sign of ‘ingratitude’ to Noise Industries if I mentioned it. Looking back I’m sure they wouldn’t mind, as competition and comparison in software is a good thing.

That was a mistake. I realised this morning that I had let a free gift influence my writing. Normal among some writers, but probably not for me. This is coming across as po-faced, but I find it an interesting part of my part in social networks.

The other dilemma is slightly different: I’ve been complaining in Vimeo’s forums for the last few months that it is ridiculous that they haven’t yet opened up their pro service (known as Plus) to international users. I was planning to write a detailed article when Vimeo gifted me Plus membership without me asking. That took the wind out of my sails, but it shouldn’t stop me from writing what I want. It is very unlikely that Vimeo is worried about what I write, and wanted to give me something to make up for a long delay, but it is odd that I now have to take this into account.

So if dilemmas are the sign of success, I’m looking forward to learning from the next one!