Avid has announced a new version of Media Composer and it is labelled 2018.1. Today, I updated my Avid Application Manager app and Its version number has now changed to 2018.1, and now in an update to this story, it has been confirmed that Avid is finally dropping version numbers for all their software.

Avid Media Composer 2018.1

On the Avid Blogs, Avid has announced that starting in January 2018, Media Composer is moving from the existing versioning sequence eg. Media Composer 8.10, to a new date-based versioning convention.

The plan is that version numbers will now reflect the year and month of the release. The first release, 2018.1 - corresponds to January 2018. A February release would be 2018.2, March would be 2018.3, and so on. If the software requires more than one release in a month (an urgent patch is needed, for example), the extra release will be identified by a third number in the format 2018.1.1. Product splash screens, about boxes, Avid Master Accounts, and Application Manager will display the full version number – for example 2018.1.1

Avid Application Manager 2018.1

This morning the Application Manager alerted me to an application update. When I checked it was an update for the Application Manager itself and once I had downloaded and installed the update, it identified the Application Manager version number as 2018.1

More Regular Pro Tools Updates?

Avid is apparently planning monthly updates for Media Composer updates and we have seen a raft of updates for Pro Tools too. If we look at the timetable of releases since Pro Tools 12 we can see a trend towards more recent updates...

• Pro Tools 12.0 – Launched March 2015
• Pro Tools 12.1 – Launched June 2015
• Pro Tools 12.2 – Launched September 2015
• Pro Tools 12.3 – Launched November 2015 
• Pro Tools 12.4 – Launched December 2015
• Pro Tools 12.5 - Launched March 2015
• Pro Tools 12.6 - Launched September 2016
• Pro Tools 12.7 - Launched December 2016
• Pro Tools 12.8 - Launched June 2017
• Pro Tools 12.8.1 - Launched August 2017
• Pro Tools 12.8.2 - Launched October 2017
• Pro Tools 12.8.3 - Launched December 2017

You can see that since June 2017, Avid has upped the frequency of updates from quarterly to every two months, in line with the announcements they made with the upgrade plans of bringing more frequent updates. So perhaps we can expect to see that trend for Pro Tools updates to continue to improve?

Do I Need A New License?

We understand that customers with an active subscription or a perpetual license with an active upgrade and support plan do not need a new license. Your current license will run this software version.

Will All Avid Applications Follow This Scheme?

Media Composer and Application Manager are the first products to follow this versioning scheme. Avid has told us that other products like Pro Tools and Sibelius will make the move to the new versioning scheme in the coming months.

What Does This Mean For Compatibility?

While multiple products will have the same version number, this does not show that they are completely compatible. For example, Media Composer 2018.11 may introduce a new feature that is not supported by Pro Tools 2018.11. You should check the Avid release documentation and Knowledgebase articles for all compatibility information.

Will There Still Be Patch Updates?

Version numbers will no longer be an indication whether a release is a feature release or just a bug fix release, nor will they indicate whether it is a full installer or a patch installer. Avid's aim is that whenever possible, software updates will be released as both full installers and patch updates to make upgrading easier. 

What If There Isn't A Release In A Given Month?

For products that do not release on a monthly basis, Avid's plan is to skip numbers, for example, the release that follows 2018.1.1 maybe 2018.3

Why Does The Version Display As "2018" In Some places And "18" In Others?

In cases where the installer software does not support four characters for the base version number, we will truncate the first two characters – for example, an installer may have to refer to 2018.1.1 as 18.1.1. The exe file may also need to display the truncated version number

What Might Be In Pro Tools 2018.1?

With NAMM around the corner and Avid having already changed Media Composer and Application Manager over to the new format, maybe we can expect a new version of Pro Tools?

What would you like to see in Pro Tools 2018.1? Which features are you waiting for?  I would love to see Folders in the Clip List which is well up the Ideascale and also has been considered in the Avid Customer Association user survey too. Do share your thoughts about what you would like to see.