Rob McGinley Myers, discussing iMovie ‘08 and Final Cut Pro X, in response to my post from Friday about iWork:
You can argue about whether either of these redesigns was actually successful. In my opinion, iMovie 08 was a mess when it first came out, but Final Cut Pro X was actually amazing for a first time user. But what you can’t argue is that each was a bold, radical departure from the past that laid a new foundation for the app’s future.
iWork has none of that boldness. All it does is clip the wings of the desktop versions so as not to embarrass the iPad’s feature set. The radical new paradigm is that you’ll be able to the same things on your iPad as you do on your desktop, even if this means ruining the experience you used to have on the desktop.
This is a great point — with its video editing software, Apple set out to make a statement about how users should work. With the new iWork, the only given reason is cross-platform compatibility. Mr. Myers and I are in agreement: that’s not a big enough reason to have bludgeoned iWork for the Mac with an iOS-shaped club.