Apple has released the first ProRes QuickTime Decoder for Mac. According to the company, this tool will allow QuickTime to play Apple ProRes files. Using the codec, Final Cut Users benefit from "lossless, uncompressed HD video at SD data rates". The Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder allows both Mac and Windows users to play Apple ProRes files through QuickTime; it is the first version of the codec that includes Windows compatibility.

From Apple's Support section of the web site...

About Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Mac

The Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder software allows both Mac and Windows users to play Apple ProRes files through QuickTime. Apple ProRes is a visually lossless format that provides uncompressed HD quality at SD data rates. It is an excellent choice for mastering and can easily be transcoded to distribution formats like H.264. With new support for playback on both Mac and Windows computers, Apple ProRes can also be used for review and approval of Final Cut Studio sequences.

QuickTime is a multimedia framework developed by Apple. It is capable of handling various formats of digital video, media clips, sound, text, animation, music, and several types of interactive panoramic images. It provides essential support for software packages including iTunes, QuickTime Player (which can also serve as a helper application for web browsers to play media files that might otherwise fail to open) and Safari; it is available for Mac OS, Mac OS X and Microsoft Windows.

As for Final Cut Studio, the professional video and audio production suite for Mac OS X developed by Apple, it contains six main applications and several smaller applications used in video editing. There are three additional applications included: a text animation program, some tools specific to film processing and a distributed processing tool.

Apple ProRes QuickTime Decoder 1.0 for Mac requirements call for Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard) and QuickTime 7.5 or later.