Well, I agree - though the last update 2 years ago wasn't much of an update. Most folks assumed Apple had been working on this for, oh, 4 years. And for 4 years of development it is suddenly revealed that they have a long way behind - more than anyone assumed.
Also, I am leery of some of the basic decisions they seem to have made. So far things don't seem well-thought-through for collaborative editing, for example.
This looks like a nice integrated app that might evolve into something awesome. But the track record for starting from scratch is not good:
Autodesk Toxik - new, beautiful code from scratch... amazing ideas... but missing major features at launch = killed by Nuke
Softimage XSI - new, beautiful code from scratch... wonderful stuff... but missing major features at launch = killed by Maya
Netscape Navigator... Quattro Pro... OS/2...
http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articl...000000069.html
I personally used ALL of these apps - and was honestly sad to see them beaten by less innovative but more pragmatic options!
My day job is movie trailers - lots of Maya, After Effects etc for the graphics. When Motion came on the scene Apple were over here (as in - the actual guys) and there was much excitement and purchasing. We were all like "well version 1.0 has issues but look at the architecture and possibilities!" - but to this day Apple never really added the features we needed. To this day they have still not caught up with After Effects. I'm a little afraid the same thing will happen with FCP X.
So the main thing for me is not the missing features per se - but the fact that it's mid-2011. Seriously, if you go back to 2007 or so - who would have predicted that Apple would still not have implemented R3D support by now in their Pro editor - and that they'd be only on version 1 of their rewrite? The fact is that they're very late - and they've been riding on expectations for years.
Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com