PC World blogger: Maybe Apple’s iMovie ‘08 is a small jewel after all

“Last week the prevailing viewpoint in the Mac community was similar to the sense of betrayal voiced by David Pogue in his New York Times piece about iMovie 08,” Phil Shapiro blogs for PC World.

“But in the rising chorus of anger you could also hear the viewpoint that iMovie 08 is perhaps a small jewel after all. Hal Cauthen, the co-founder of the iMovie Special Interest Group in Washington Apple Pi, a large user group in the Washington DC-area, differed from Pogue in his assessment,” Shapiro writes.

“Is there a lesson to be learned here? Yes. It’s important to reserve judgment and not be too quick out of the gate with your reactions. Apple sometimes makes big mistakes, but they seldom make colossal mistakes,” Shapiro writes.

Full article, with links to Hal Cauthen’s iMovie ’08 viewpoints in three blog postings, here.

38 Comments

  1. iMovie ’08 is great, but not a replacement for iMovie HD (at least for a lot of people). iMovie HD is great, but not a replacement for iMovie ’08. So it looks like I’ll be using both. For me, the killer feature of iMovie ’08 is the library of events. Having such easy access to all my movies has helped me enjoy them again (and again).

    I’ve also noticed that iMovie ’08 is very buggy. Hopefully it won’t take too long to straighten these out.

  2. Well I was looking a couple of totally unscientific polls on iMove and it seems it really is a vocal minority that hate iMovie ’08.

    Kind of reminds me of the Classic OS 9 supporters back in the day when the change to OS X came about. Give it time and you will find that you adjust and start to like the features of the new version.

    I for one DO like iMoive ’08 better than ’06. The workflow works for me. With software I take each release as a new release and judge it on the merits of just that title alone not comparing it to the previous release.

  3. imovie is really good

    but if you are in he middle of your imovie 6 master peace

    or imovie 6 is the only editor you have ever liked imovie 8 can be hard to swallow

    I for one think imovie is a great product, imovie 6 was getting out of hand, slow and hard to use.

    Apple fixed it GREAT JOB!!

  4. I typically use FCE because I like the control it offers.

    There is a huge difference between iMovie and FCE but for many users, iMovie ’08 is more than adequate and it’s quite fun to use to boot.

    I for one, like iMovie ’08 quite a bit and I will use it for all my more simple projects. I love not needing to render and would like to see that ‘feature’ spread across the lineup of Apple’s movie software.

  5. I just used iMovie ’08 for the first time this weekend. It’s so easy to compose a project, skimming is a joy, and there are all sorts of little details that work great (e.g., setting the start and end points for the Ken Burns effect). After reading the first reviews, I thought the new iMovie would be a disaster. But it’s so simple and easy that it’s a lit of fun to use. A little leaner on features than ’06, but that will change as the new program is developed over time.

  6. No amount of MDN/Apple partnership on this will change the facts.

    iMovie 08 is a HUGE, did I emphasize HUGE? – disappointment to iMovie users across the world. We wanted a robust upgrade, not a dummed down toy.

    All the outcry is not about the immediate loss of iMovie HD, but the sooner-or-later fate it faces as ARROGANT APPLE phases it out, makes it unusable via OS updates, Quicktime updates, Intel updates, etc., etc.

    No question: APPE”S BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER! EVER!

    Shame on MDN for being such a mindless booster of everything Jobs and everything Apple – why not some objective reporting, after all, he’s not perfect and neither his his company.

    Apple faithful sustain it all and they have slapped us silly with this even siller blunder.

  7. I think that in time people will learn the true value of the new iMovie. The popularity of sites like Youtube has shown that video doesn’t have to be high quality to be popular. As these kind of videos become more widespread they’ll also become more and more disposable. People will be shooting video pretty much wherever they are and will want to share but often it won’t have any long term value to them – and if it does they can spend some real time on it – which is why I think it’s important that iMovie ’06 is still around.

  8. What all you iMovie ’08 haters don’t seem to understand is the user interface far exceeds the previous iMovie in terms of ease of use and comprehension. Although it lacks the effects and themes, the important thing to remember is the revolutionary style of creating movie projects which Apple implemented in iMovie ’08. There’s nothing with wrong with making something less complicated if you can create the same quality output or better compared to the previous version. In this case iMovie ’08 can’t because of the lack of themes and effects but in the areas which ’08 does have the same features the latest version is clear winner. Apple is most likely intending to add themes and effects back when Leopard is released since it would most likely utilize Core Animation, a technology found only in Leopard. If this is the case iMovie ’08 will be able to quash anything iMovie ’06 could dream of making all sides of users happy.

  9. You said, “No question: APPE”S BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER! EVER!

    Shame on MDN for being such a mindless booster of everything Jobs and everything Apple – why not some objective reporting, after all, he’s not perfect and neither his his company.

    Apple faithful sustain it all and they have slapped us silly with this even siller blunder.”

    While I will not call you an MS troll, you sound very much like one. While I do not like that Apple is killing Appleworks and other products v(I wish they would let some third party keep selling it) my comments on that, iMove08, and other Apple issues as well as others here, sound different than yours.

    True Apple fans may not agree with Apple when they decide to do something, and we do not mind voicing our opinions, we usually have a tone of consideration in our written voice.

    But the MS trolls usually sound different!! Its like they are always saying the same thing with different words.
    — “Apple did something bad. BAD APPLE. Kill Apple!!!!! Apple will turn on (you) er, all of us and doom us!!!”

    How many postings have we seen here for any Apple product, where we have seen trolls??? claiming doom and gloom everytime Apple did something unexpected (or expected for that matter. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> ) They almost sound as obnocious as Zune Tang, almost. But they use words that are more — somehow — understnading. But not by much.

    So, will I keep iMove 6, of course. And I will enjoy how it does things. But will I use iMove08?? Hmmmm, magic 8-ball says, “chances are good”. LOL ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

  10. You said, “No question: APPE”S BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER! EVER!

    Shame on MDN for being such a mindless booster of everything Jobs and everything Apple – why not some objective reporting, after all, he’s not perfect and neither his his company.

    Apple faithful sustain it all and they have slapped us silly with this even siller blunder.”

    While I will not call you an MS troll, you sound very much like one. While I do not like that Apple is killing Appleworks and other products v(I wish they would let some third party keep selling it) my comments on that, iMove08, and other Apple issues as well as others here, sound different than yours.

    True Apple fans may not agree with Apple when they decide to do something, and we do not mind voicing our opinions, we usually have a tone of consideration in our written voice.

    But the MS trolls usually sound different!! Its like they are always saying the same thing with different words.
    — “Apple did something bad. BAD APPLE. Kill Apple!!!!! Apple will turn on (you) er, all of us and doom us!!!”

    How many postings have we seen here for any Apple product, where we have seen trolls??? claiming doom and gloom everytime Apple did something unexpected (or expected for that matter. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> ) They almost sound as obnocious as Zune Tang, almost. But they use words that are more — somehow — understnading. But not by much.

    So, will I keep iMove 6, of course. And I will enjoy how it does things. But will I use iMove08?? Hmmmm, magic 8-ball says, “chances are good”. LOL ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

  11. You said, “No question: APPE”S BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER! EVER!

    Shame on MDN for being such a mindless booster of everything Jobs and everything Apple – why not some objective reporting, after all, he’s not perfect and neither his his company.

    Apple faithful sustain it all and they have slapped us silly with this even siller blunder.”

    While I will not call you an MS troll, you sound very much like one. While I do not like that Apple is killing Appleworks and other products v(I wish they would let some third party keep selling it) my comments on that, iMove08, and other Apple issues as well as others here, sound different than yours.

    True Apple fans may not agree with Apple when they decide to do something, and we do not mind voicing our opinions, we usually have a tone of consideration in our written voice.

    But the MS trolls usually sound different!! Its like they are always saying the same thing with different words.
    — “Apple did something bad. BAD APPLE. Kill Apple!!!!! Apple will turn on (you) er, all of us and doom us!!!”

    How many postings have we seen here for any Apple product, where we have seen trolls??? claiming doom and gloom everytime Apple did something unexpected (or expected for that matter. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> ) They almost sound as obnocious as Zune Tang, almost. But they use words that are more — somehow — understnading. But not by much.

    So, will I keep iMove 6, of course. And I will enjoy how it does things. But will I use iMove08?? Hmmmm, magic 8-ball says, “chances are good”. LOL ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

  12. You said, “No question: APPE”S BIGGEST MISTAKE EVER! EVER!

    Shame on MDN for being such a mindless booster of everything Jobs and everything Apple – why not some objective reporting, after all, he’s not perfect and neither his his company.

    Apple faithful sustain it all and they have slapped us silly with this even siller blunder.”

    While I will not call you an MS troll, you sound very much like one. While I do not like that Apple is killing Appleworks and other products v(I wish they would let some third party keep selling it) my comments on that, iMove08, and other Apple issues as well as others here, sound different than yours.

    True Apple fans may not agree with Apple when they decide to do something, and we do not mind voicing our opinions, we usually have a tone of consideration in our written voice.

    But the MS trolls usually sound different!! Its like they are always saying the same thing with different words.
    — “Apple did something bad. BAD APPLE. Kill Apple!!!!! Apple will turn on (you) er, all of us and doom us!!!”

    How many postings have we seen here for any Apple product, where we have seen trolls??? claiming doom and gloom everytime Apple did something unexpected (or expected for that matter. ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” /> ) They almost sound as obnocious as Zune Tang, almost. But they use words that are more — somehow — understnading. But not by much.

    So, will I keep iMove 6, of course. And I will enjoy how it does things. But will I use iMove08?? Hmmmm, magic 8-ball says, “chances are good”. LOL ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

  13. I can just imagine how MDN would try to put a positive spin on Apple cutting half of the features in Leopard in order to make the operating system easier to use.

    Seriously, why is catering to the youtube crowd supposed to be a good thing? What next, .mac turning into MySpace? iTunes cutting features down to only play and stop, because ya know, only giving the user two buttons would make listening to music much simpler, and iTunes is free, so why make iTunes all fancy and stuff?

  14. Hmmmm, see here is another possible MS troll.

    On the surface this sounds like a reasonable post. But read it closely and we see: “I can just imagine how MDN would try to put a positive spin on Apple cutting half of the features in Leopard in order to make the operating system easier to use.”

    Leopard has not even shipped and already they are making half baked comments that have no basis in reality. An old MS troll trick.” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

    And while MDN does tend to support Apple decisions, they also “wag” the finger at Apple too. I say before one complains to loudly, try the product, see if Apple has kept you from using your old version, and finally…. try Vista for a week, . . . . . . .
    — then make some solid compaisons!!! ” width=”19″ height=”19″ alt=”grin” style=”border:0;” />

    en

  15. All the gnashing of teeth reminds me of when Dylan went electric–the folk community screamed betrayal. But Dylan went on to be better than ever.

    Perhaps a better analogy is when Apple changed to OS X. We had to learn a new way of doing things. It took time, but it was worth it.

    Same thing here, I think. I just did my first iMovie ’08 project, using video imported from iMovie HD, and it was quick and easy. For sure, all the plug-ins, etc will follow. Have some patience, folks; I’m sure Apple thought a lot about this before overhauling the software.

  16. “Leopard has not even shipped and already they are making half baked comments that have no basis in reality. An old MS troll trick.”

    – Either you lack comprehension skills or you don’t comprehend sarcasm because you apparently completely missed my point. I was not trying to say that Leopard is cutting features. Rather, if Leopard were to cut features, would MDN apply the same logic to that as they did to iMovie?

  17. Having just made a quick movie with the new iMovie 08, I’ll have to admit it does have a bona-fide place for making ultra quick mash-ups but is definitely NOT an adequate replacement for iMovie 06. It’s simply not precise enough nor does it have enough features. Both are necessary for different reasons but I’ll hazard a guess that Apple will discontinue the iMovie 06 progression and force those wanting semi-pro video editing features to buy their Final Cut Express. I’ll be keeping my iMovie 06 version as long as it still works.

  18. By the way, people are complaining NOT because they hate Apple but because they want to voice their opinions to make sure Apple does a good job on their next release. Sure Apple puts a lot of thought into their product releases, but they also listen to complaints from their customers (as any good company does). Complainig about an Apple product does not make someone a MS troll; it merely identifies those that are passionate about the brand they love.

  19. Imovie 08 is alot better for me Imovie 06 i used a couple of times but it was too cumbersome for me
    THe new version is innovative, incerdibly fast at putting something together I for one am very pleased.
    If I want to make a fancy DVD I use IDVD not Imovie and I always did… So no it wasnt a huge mistake or one at all in my opinion and there are alot of happy users out there snf 06 id dtill ditting on my system gsthering dust if I want some of those older features but frankly O dont need them

  20. No it is NOT crap..
    It is better for me by a mile
    If you dont like it stick with the free version of the old movie as it rocks so much for you
    Man I am sick of the bunch of moaners
    Do they not have the brain capacity to open the old copy and use that but enjoy the new features of the new one..
    Stop moaning you lot, get a real life

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