[Oliver] ... Or if they had released it as an "editing assistant" application? Sort of a good "pre-editor" or maybe even just a "rough cut editor"?
None of that would have made sense. An "editing assistant" or a "pre-editor" implies to have good interfaces, exchange options. This is not given at the current state and hadn't been there on launch
[Oliver] ... FCP X is a good tool for SOME things, but not all. Because it is called Final Cut Pro, I think a lot of us are trying to MAKE it work, when often it isn't the right choice. Hence, a lot of frustration.
I agree. There are a lot of attempting features in there which can make some productions work like a charm. But there are are other - especially when you need to work in a collaborative environment - which don't work or are missing and in so far for many people it's a no go.
[Oliver]Thoughts?
Some.
FCP and FCPX both are data base driven. FCP has a bad interface to access the underlying databases especially using the so called "metadata" (hype word at this time). These metadata always had been there and I don't understand those people claiming that this is really new.
As always with any NLE you have to know what you do and have to understand the approach of the NLE (which quite often does not match your way of thinking).
Personally I think FCPX was released at a bad point of time and too much focused on a single user.
Maybe it would be interesting to see how many of the "lovers" do work in collaborative environments when creating their projects.
No doubt FCPX will involve - but that's finally true for every app.
In the meantime we can spent/waste time working with the app - and learn.
- Andreas
Spherico
http://www.spherico.com/filmtools 
