So this is the new FCP vs. Avid battleground? I use Final Cut, I don't consider myself a professional editor but I do direct videos and ads for major record labels (Capitol, Atlantic, etc.) so I am a 'pro' using Final Cut when I have to edit my own stuff...

I think it's important to point out the exception to your 'pro' rule, eridley: Walter Murch now uses Final Cut Pro. Used it on 'Cold Mountain.' Although you know who uses it, it's fair to let others know who you're referring to - the chief editor of The Godfather, The Conversation, Apocalypse Now, The English Patient...

I know many editors, the ones that work at houses use an Avid, it is the pro's choice. No doubt. If I'm not editing, I would rather have a good editor on the system they're comfortable with. But this AVID FREE is veering head-on into a growing market that has left the Avid behind: Smaller projects that edit online, like DV and video-based reality shows. This is not the program of choice for that market. Nearly every show you see on MTV or VH1 is being cut on FCP (I have some friends that work on shows like 'Making Tha Band," etc.). It's just more cost-effective. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to learn the Avid interface, as once you learn with this, you can step up to a hardware-based Avid and in a few minutes be operating.

I also know a few editors who are doing the smart thing: They have learned both Avid & Final Cut. I like the Avid, but I know that many houses are able to put in 2-3 extremely professional online FCPro systems for the price of an Avid. So, like it or not, post-production houses are adding FCPro systems to their arsenal.

The annoying thing about this argument is that you & others that get so mad about FCPro seem to have forgotten that good editing did not begin in 1992 with the introduction of the Avid. The Avid is the choice of professionals today because it has been the standard tool for a decade. But don't get mad if the tools start to change - it's 'editing' itself that has to happen; Avid is not the artform.