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Comment by starmftronajoll | Hacker News Reader

Seems like the question would be to ask why nobody competes viably with Photoshop. Premiere is an odd example to single out — Avid and Final Cut, for instance, are full-featured and both have a substantial user base. The competition there is healthier than OP makes it out to be.

As for Photoshop, once it became the standard, it stayed that way by virtue of user inertia and the massive development resources it would take for a competitor to create a program in the same class. Photoshop is an extremely complex app and, on the whole, a very good one. It’s not without its frustrations, but nothing is.

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Right, I would even narrow down my question to "why nobody competes Viably in a non-professional market". Both Avid and Final Cut are overkills for a ski-trip video editing, while simple things like iMovie and friends are waaay to stripped down.

Perhaps because sufficient number of non professionals typically won't pay an amount of money that pays for a top notch development team. So in the non professional market, you have labors of love like GIMP and DarkTable

Right, but what about those "indie" content creators, popping up everywhere these days: YouTubers, Instagrammers, independent musicians and clip-makers, poor startup founders, needing to create a 1-minute marketing video twice a year... All those, I think, would spare $50-$100 for a good piece of software but not more than that. And if someone would analyze how they use professional products, I'm sure, it would converge to some stable ~30% subset of features big products offer

If your content makes you significant money, you'll be willing to invest/pay. Return from even one piece of content will typically very comfortably pay off software pricing. My wife and her business partners run a completely bootstrapped startup and they do pay (often others rather than make content themselves) for wherever is critical for revenue generation.

If your content doesn't generate revenue or revenue generating leads, you have a hobby and need to decide whether to invest in the hobby.

Edit: in my last trip to China, I actually saw the mushrooming "mobile live video streaming influencer" industry and looking at their equipment (portable large battery powered klieg lights, audio gear etc.), it's pretty clear the influencers were investing.

Top Youtubers already use RED cameras, they’re ok with spending money :)

For video editing could add Blender. There are alternatives for both casual use and professional users who are willing to put up with less fit and finish.

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