Apple has agreed to make older versions of Final Cut Studio 3 available for purchase, following several months of customer backlash against the radically redesigned Final Cut Pro X.

When Final Cut Pro X was released in June, Apple touted the release as "the biggest advance in Pro video editing since the original Final Cut Pro." Video professionals disagreed.

After receiving negative reviews from customers, Apple promised to frequently update Final Cut Pro X in order to bring its features up to par with previous versions of the venerable editing software. Apple's competitors in the space, including Avid and Adobe, used the opportunity to offer Final Cut Pro customers cheaper migration paths to their software.

Since July, we've been hearing that existing Final Cut Studio customers could purchase additional licenses to the old program by calling Apple directly. MacRumors confirms that any customer can now obtain the legacy version of the video editor by calling Apple.

Users will need to call Apple directly at 800-MY-APPLE and ask for Final Cut Studio, part number MB642Z/A. The product is not available in Apple Retail stores or at Apple.com.

Final Cut Studio is $999 or $899 for educational customers. The package includes Final Cut Pro 7, Motion 4, Soundtrack Pro 3, DVD Studio Pro 4, Color 1.5 and Compressor 3.5. In contrast, Final Cut Pro X is $299.99 from the Mac App Store and Motion and Compressor are $49.99 each.

As a longtime user of Final Cut Pro, I maintain that for new digital editors or editors who are working with primarily digital footage (4K footage notwithstanding), Final Cut Pro X is decent tool. For my own non-professional usage, the app is fast and the new features are slick.

However, for users that need a more robust system, support for a wider array of hardware cards and monitors and formats, Final Cut Pro 7 is still ahead of the pack. For users who are looking for a more modern successor to Final Cut Pro 7, I would seriously suggest checking out the trial versions of Adobe Premiere Pro CS5.5.

The Final Cut Pro X rollout is one of Apple's rare execution fumbles. But perhaps existing customers will be appeased by having access to the legacy program.

What do you think of Apple's decision to continue selling the older version of the program?