Pretty much all of the 'boat rocking' features have been their since day 1 and Apple has spent most of the last three years giving X the 'standard' features that it lacked at launch so it can be more like other NLEs. Feature parity isn't a one way street. If the current version of X had been the launch version the reception would've have been much less volatile.
I don't think Apple didn't rock the boat for the betterment of the industry, I think they rocked it for the betterment of their bottom line. FCP X is an inexpensive NLE with a very low learning curve and the fastest growing segment of video editors are part time video editors. Out of the gate Apple wanted to target a broader audience and not settle for just the war of attrition that had developed between the old FCP and Avid MC.
hey, i'm pretty sure that if FCP X had so and so features in the beginning that another so and so feature or non-feature would have been criticized. i am not so sure to go as far as that it is volatile, though. i mean, FCP is not apple's bread and butter. it's a show-off piece. it says look how great we are at making software. and it is a great software. i was totally blown away by FCP X. it reminds me of working on a Steinbeck, which is an editing table that you cut film with. the steinbeck i was working on only had one monitor much like how FCP X is setup, instead of the usual two like in FCP 7 w/ Source monitor and Timeline monitor.... well, the second monitor is still there in FCP X but it is now like a glorified scrubber viewer, if you know what I mean.
anyway, FCP X i think took apple back to when OS X was introduced. OS X was so weird to people that Apple had to wrap this OS into an titanium body. at least, this is what i think. remember the G4 titanium powerbooks? i remember those and thought they were great. i wanted one because i was coming out of college at the time and wanted to use a mac for FCP, but the way the powerbooks were made back then made me want a mac even more. if that makes sense.
i guess what i am trying to say is that FCP X is, if it rocks anyone's boat, it should rock not the industry or whatever, but you. it should rock your boat. yeh, sure, some people know about FCP in the "industry." but, apple--if you know apple is about "personal" experiences. and, to me, FCP X is one of those products apple has to "Wow" not the industry, but you.
thank you.