In his review for the recently released Avid Free DV, a free, DV-only version of Avid’s video editing software, the Boston Globe’s John Mello said Apple’s iMovie doesn’t have anything to fear: “Avid’s offering is a pale version of its robust Express line of editing products,” he said. “Professional video editors who use an Avid competitor may jump at the chance to take a free look at how Avid does things. But for the merely curious, this software is a nightmare. It isn’t intuitive. It obfuscates its functions with jargon. And its interface is daunting. That’s quite a checklist of negatives when you take into account there are no tutorials to explain the workings of the program, its help files are unhelpful, and there’s no technical support.”
