I know many people are surprised that FCP 7 (a.k.a. FCP Legend in some circles) is still so widely used (myself included) two years after Apple killed it, but maybe we shouldn’t be. There’s the universal ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ mantra that I’m sure many are sticking to but I think the long life of FCP 7 is more than just users being comfortable with the devil they know. By now FCP X, Adobe Premiere Pro, and Avid MC all offer significant advantages over FCP 7 but for some (especially larger installations) switching NLEs is much easier said than done.
Smaller shops can be pretty flexible but facilities that have 10, 20 or even 30+ seats generally move at a glacial pace. One large facility I worked at was typically 18-24 months behind on OS and software versions so switching NLEs (especially after years and lots of money tailoring workflows around the old FCP) is going to be a long process. Not only do they have to adjust their workflows to a new NLE, they have to train all their editors and producers on the new software and possibly even find a new pool of freelancers to call on if too few of the cutters in the Rolodex are up to speed on the new NLE. They also use media managed FCP projects as archives so they’ll need to find a way to migrate those archives into something readable by the new NLE.
If I was in charge of heading up all those changes I’d probably wait until the wheels totally fell off the bus too.