I have an older version of S1 and Live and only occasionally use them.  Live is good for enticing me to think differently (creatively), S1 might one day sway me to jump ship. 

I know friends that swear by Logic and others that say Nuendo is the best....  so I guess whatever they feel comfortable using is cool and I'm never gonna try convincing them otherwise... each to their own and with all due respect, it's their preferred choice ;) 

 

As someone who's had to study user interfaces for 25 years as a matter of necessity, I can tell you that initial ease-of-use is highly overrated. 

Heresy, I know. But I have seen users fly through some of the worst-designed software imaginable (think 1980's era database front-ends), while being productive and content - because they knew the UI very well, knew the program's quirks and demands. Conversely, I've seen users' productivity slow to a crawl when presented with a vastly superior but unfamiliar interface. 
 
The biggest gripe I have with magazine software reviews is the reviewers usually speak from the standpoint of a brand-new user, not as an experienced one. They'll trash a program that's difficult to install, but jeez you only do that once! What about the thousands of days that will follow? Well, they don't know about that, so they critique the installation or the thickness of the manual or how quickly they got their authorization code.

Nobody should be qualified to review any application until they've used it daily for at least 3 to 6 months, and even then they should add the caveat that they are not experienced users.

bitflipper


As someone who's had to study user interfaces for 25 years as a matter of necessity, I can tell you that initial ease-of-use is highly overrated. 

Heresy, I know. But I have seen users fly through some of the worst-designed software imaginable (think 1980's era database front-ends), while being productive and content - because they knew the UI very well, knew the program's quirks and demands. Conversely, I've seen users' productivity slow to a crawl when presented with a vastly superior but unfamiliar interface. 

The biggest gripe I have with magazine software reviews is the reviewers usually speak from the standpoint of a brand-new user, not as an experienced one. They'll trash a program that's difficult to install, but jeez you only do that once! What about the thousands of days that will follow? Well, they don't know about that, so they critique the installation or the thickness of the manual or how quickly they got their authorization code.

Nobody should be qualified to review any application until they've used it daily for at least 3 to 6 months, and even then they should add the caveat that they are not experienced users.