Point/Counter Point from the NYT - David Pogue

[Heath McKnight]

It does look a bit like iMovie, but iMovie doesn't have a lot of the features this one does. It really goes back to Randy U's First Cut which somehow became iMovie '08 (which angered a lot of people, I remember back in 07):

DVcreators.net | Blog | What does the guy who led the original Final Cut Pro revolution think of the Final Cut Pro X release?

Heath

[Pete Cofrancesco]

Originally Posted by Heath McKnight

It does look a bit like iMovie, but iMovie doesn't have a lot of the features this one does.

That's because they added new features to iMovie instead of FCP.

It really goes back to Randy U's First Cut which somehow became iMovie '08 (which angered a lot of people, I remember back in 07):

DVcreators.net | Blog | What does the guy who led the original Final Cut Pro revolution think of the Final Cut Pro X release?

Heath

Without going through that article and having a full history of iMovie at my disposal, I remember a few years back Apple pulling features from a newer version iMovie. Apple never came out and said it and by the way they never would, that they didn't like that iMovie was competing against FCP instead of acting as stepping stone to FCP, but it turned out people were using it for more than home amateur movies and were content to stay with iMovie. Apple decision to cut features from iMovie to encourage people to buy FCP Express back fired, iMovie users were furious and didn't like FCP interface. They tried pushing iMovie users to FCP and that didn't work so now they've decided it would be easier to push FCP users to iMovie.

Apple is spinning it to put the best possible face on it but at the end of the day it serves their interest first. There has always been the tension between iMovie and FCP. They've never been able to easily graduate iMovie users to FCP and FCPX is their answer.

[Heath McKnight]

I don't quite understand your logic here... having not used any version of iMovie, I can't really say that Apple created it to push people to FCP. In fact that seems a little bit odd. Back in 1999/2000, Jobs said the Mac will be the digital hub, and I think iPhoto, iMovie, iTunes, Garageband, etc., was born out of that. It's an easy way for people to create their own digital content.

I think iMovie 08 was a new, completely re-designed version of the software that angered a lot of people.

I'm not denying that iMovie and FCP X look alike, because they do, but I also don't think FCP X is iMovie Pro, either. At least right now I don't, because I haven't used it yet and don't want to judge the book by its cover. I don't understand the logic behind the UI, but I get why Apple is going with a new paradigm. In fact, my Vegas Pro friends having been cutting different for years.

I think FCE was a way to get people to use Final Cut (it's darn near identical to FCP 6) cheaply, and the Final Cut user base grew.

heath

[Chris Barcellos]

From the sound of complaints I have heard, and methods of resolving matters, I think think Heath is right on the point. This is a new way of editing. About six years ago, on the PC side I was using Premiere Pro. I also had friends editing in FCP, Frankly, with their rather similar looks and the feels I got from the FCP users, and my experience with Premiere, I thought the two had a very similar feeling. About that time, I started messing with Vegas. It was kind of loose feeling. You could do same thing two or three different ways. I could never get settled with what was the right way to do it. Premieire always seems to have a one right way to do something. I couldn't handle the uncertainty of the new Vegas Gui. I went back to Premiere. Then the big upgrade push and new high costs came along, and I went back Vegas. I learned to accept the freer environment in Vegas, and at this point, I think it is a great NLE.

I think we are seeing this more open GUi emerge in FCP X. The fixes and new methods described are so Vegas like, and I am thinking that FCP users will gradually learn to love the new methods.

[Heath McKnight]

Give it time, and maybe FCP X will win many of us over. They'll add support and new (and old) features in, and we'll adjust to a new paradigm. I'm optimistic!

Heath

ps-Premiere Pro borrowed its UI heavily from Avid, and Randy U. left Adobe to develop KeyGrip for Macromedia before they changed the name, demo'd it on both Windows and Mac at NAB 1998 and Apple bought it. And the rest is history.

pss-I talked to Randy on the phone a few years ago, and he's a really nice and very smart guy.

[Pete Cofrancesco]

I guess I don't understand the basis of your opinions if you haven't used iMovie before then how can you say you don't think it's iMovie. I have used both and taught classes in iMovie. How do you explain that FCPX looks like iMovie, acts like iMovie, and imports iMoive projects but it won't import FCP?

Its also a common business practice to offer a free version with limited features to attract users and then encourage them to upgrade to a paid version that has more features.

[Heath McKnight]

Well, I've used FCP for 12 years and never felt the need to use iMovie; no disrespect to the NLE, because I have a lot of friends who are talented editors that cut their teeth on it. iMovie and FCP are built upon the same foundation (First Cut), which is my guess why you can't open FCP 7 projects. And that's frustrating to me, too.

Answer me this... can iMovie control meta data like FCP X can? What about auditions, background rendering, chroma keying, advanced color correcting, etc.?

Heath

[Pete Cofrancesco]

FCP1 was acquired from Macromedia. iMovie was developed separately by Apple and doesn't use FCP code base. So when FCPX is compatible with only iMovie...

I'm not implying I'm superior to you or that you should use iMovie, I'm saying since I have used both I'm a better position to support the opinion that FCPX is more similar to iMovie.

So are you saying if those features were added to iMovie and that it would no longer be iMovie because the previous versions didn't have them?