Michael has posted some interesting thoughts about the iMovie controversy. His view is that the new iMovie is a better fit with the rest of the iLife package. The old iMovie HD, he argues, is really a cut-down variation on professional editing software.

iMovie ‘08 is clearly not as flexible as iMovie HD was if you want total control over your movie, or more special effects and so on, but in return you get something that I think is much more accessible for non technical people to use. People who want to just take a few camcorder clips and put them together, cut out a few duff bits, and add some sounds and titles. iMovie 08 makes that so much easier, and that to me is what Apple’s iLife was meant to be about. iMovie HD was too complicated for that, iMovie 08 fills that gap.

Michael thinks that the actual product spectrum looks like this:

iMovie 08 — iMovie HD — Final Cut Express — Final Cut Pro

On reflection, I think he’s right.