Viva iMovie 08 – Long live iMovie 06HD

Question

My two bits on this ongoing discussion. I think I have got this figured out.
Apple is going with the flow and in iMovie 08 has produced a pretty slick, albeit ragged and rough on the edges, first version application that is designed to integrate the iLife apps into Web 2.0. It is tailor made to do exactly what it seems to be designed to do - get rapid snippets of video onto the web, onto appleTV, an iPod or iPhone – Why one may ask – well because that is where many people like my son and daughter – the coming generation of media users are going. They live in a virtual world and what counts to them is pretty close to instant gratification and extraordinary exhibitionism with the extended circle of virtual friends that they manage through devices and websites. They do not want to have to edit an hour long family movie and keep it on DVD for the benefit of boring all the uncles and aunts on a Sunday afternoon . To them bliss is shooting a 10 second sequence of Buddy Drinking Beer upside down and then super editing it and dropping it on YouTube or sending it as a VideoMS to a cell phone. The idea of a slick DVD is anathema to them. Having played a bit with iMovie 08 – BINGO that is what it does . *It is a new application for a new user group who surf a virtual world*.
IT IS NOT AN UPGRADE OF iMOVIE06HD!!
I on the other hand want to do the old stuff – film a leisurely trip to Venice on the canals, add some fancy music (many minutes of a suitable Baroque piece) add a voice over with fade ins and fade outs to let the Venetian street sounds slip in. I also want to chop up my old home movies done in analog and even worse transferred from celluloid to VHS tape to secure digital formats and then edit them together so that ONE DAY when Web 2.0 Wizard instant gratification brat has kids and he/she wants to show NextGenWebWiz what he/she looked like when there were dinosaurs on this earth – there is is safe and sound on archive DVD.
He/she will also want to film little NextGenWebWiz Boobalah II eating ice-cream – all 25 minutes of it of dripping vanilla glory. WebWiz will probably use 08 to YouTube it for all to see and enjoy the eating of ice-cream – the fun part with the ice-cream dripping on a waiting dogs tongue – 30 seconds worth! But will also use 06HD to do a proper present of a DVD to doting grandparents under the Christmas tree job.
Apple was wise this time. They left 06HD in place in a separate folder because they knew that old fogies like me will scream like **** at 08. AND they have released it as a download for all new Mac owners who may need it for the old fashioned stuff.
My only hope is that they keep it like this – develop 08 as a Web2.0 application and continue to upgrade and develop 06HD as a proper DVD/Move application. In this way we will have the best of both.
BTW – I will now buy an AppleTV box. I have been waiting for the opportunity to get selected sequences of my home movies onto my TV without the hassle of editing and burning a DVD. For this 08 is perfect! In fact here it sings and it is a total no-brainer to use at this level.

Answer 1

let's rate the Sophistication / Power of Apple's video editing software.
iMovie 08 = 1
Final cut express = 8
Final cut pro = 10
You'll notice there's giant gap in the middle. (iMovie 06 would probably be a 3 or 4 in the above list.) That gap, WILL BE filled by some company, especially with millions of frustrated Mac users seeking a REAL replacement for iMovie 06.
Will it be, SimpleMovieX, or Norrkross Movie, or Adobe or..... Apple?
There are about a dozen video editing programs for Windows. With Apple now using Intel processors, having those programs run on a Mac will be easier than ever.
I don't claim to be a computer expert or a video expert, but I do know about marketing. It is inconceivable that Apple will essentially 'give' this money away to other companies by abandoning iMovie 06.
I believe that in a very few months Apple will simply move from 3 video editing products to 4, and the enhancements and upgrades to iMovie 06 will continue.
Regardless of what happens, I will continue to use iMovie 06 until it is no longer possible (unless a REAL replacement comes out). I believe that most iMovie 06 users will hold off purchasing Leopard until they have verified that iMovie 06 works correctly with it.