As somebody who worked professionally with Adobe Premiere I think the criticism of its UI misses the point. Premiere was never meant for hobbyists (reflected by it's actual name: Premiere _Pro_).

The only valid point made here is that it is hard to learn for someone who never used any editing software at all. But it certainly isn't slow or "unfocused". That source monitor is on screen for a reason. Keyboard shortcuts will always be faster than moving your mouse around. And by the way: Premiere has a modular interface, so if you hate the clutter or don't need it, you can get rid of it.

If you are the person who just wants to edit some stuff together once a year Premiere _Pro_ is not for you. Turns out software interfaces that are meant to be used by people 8 hours a day for weeks at a time follow different design paradigms than stuff made for amateurs. I'd go completely insane if I had to edit a movie on anything simpler tho.

I like their TLI ideas, but I am honestly a bit alergic against designers who lack the phantasy of realizing that sometimes a UIs complexity is a reflection of the complexity of the problem it helps to solve in conjunction with the level of control you want to give to the user.

Steep learning curves should be avoided — sure — but sometimes they are necessary to shave of that extra second. Something that multiplies if you do it hundred times an hour.

Premiere is like vim: not for everybody, but if you wield it in the right way, there is not much that can beat it.