Professional grade video editor ‘Lightworks‘ makes it Linux debut today as an alpha-quality release for Debian-based distributions.

But before your imagination runs away with dreams of becoming the next Scorsese, there’s a catch: You won’t get to play with it.

Limited Trial

Editshare, the company behind the video editor, announced October 30th as the day Linux users would finally be able to get their hands on the app.

But one key cavea affecting that release doesn’t seem to have been communicated very well: the alpha is only available to a handful of people.

People who, as one poster on the Editshare boards put it, “happened to see the right forum post at the right time”.

The window of opportunity to become a tester opened in 2011, and closed in 2011.

Jumbled Storyline

Much like the incomrephensible films I was forced to watch during my days at college, the storyline of ‘Lightworks for Linux’ has become confused and jumbled as the months have gone on.

After numerous ‘false starts’, promised release dates, and a slow drip-feeding of information, September’s announcement that a ‘linux alpha’ would finally arrive in October was met with excitement by the community.

But that excitement must once again be tempered. This alpha is not available to all.

‘Limited Alpha is a good thing’

Editshare understand that those wanting to download the alpha will be ‘disappointed’ to learn that access to it is limited. But they say that this is actually ‘a good thing’:

“[With the alpha we] had so many applicants that we have decided to restrict the numbers.

It would work less effectively if we had more, because we would not be able to deal with all the feedback efficiently with the resources we have.

…[this means] that we will be able to get through the Alpha stage faster”

A release date for the beta, which they do say will be available to a wider set of users, has yet to be given.

In the development of software as big and complex as Lightworks it would be foolish, as Editshare now realise, to give specific dates.