The Nightmare that is "Software Compatability"

After a torturous week of what I call "troubleshooting", I have determined that Final Cut Pro 3.x is incompatible with Mac OS X.4. It would have been super dandy if Apple had SAID something about this on their support website, but they would rather forget about any previous versions of anything they sold. I mean, who's using version 3? They're up to version 5 now!

Anyway, I don't have an extra $500 dollars everytime they overhaul their software, so I stick with what works. Or doesn't, as soon as I upgrade my system software. Could someone tell me what is so wildly different about Tiger (OS X.4), from Panther (X.3) that SLIGHTLY outdated video editing software would become the whimpering little infant it became? Too freaked out to recognize my camera, while frantically quitting on me; it was clear the old software was in a terrified awe of the newest OS. And who wouldn't be? It has a revamped search engine! And widgets! I don't know how the hell that would affect the Firewire interaface but who knows? I mean they're called widgets!

Man I hate bullshit.