Wow! I remember it like it was yesterday.
Living in the San Fernando Valley and finishing up school at Cal State University, Northridge, I first heard about final cut pro from my TV Production instructor who attended NAB 1999. I was excited about the news, being frustrated with my Light Blue Powermac G3 350mhz Adobe Premiere system which would often sloooow down and crash on an 8-10 minute project with video shot from my gorgeous dv footage from my Sony VX-1000.
Hanging out on 2-pop.com, I see a post announcing the very first Final Cut Pro User Group meeting to be held at Video Symphony. I drive up to Burbank to attend that first meeting and enter the room not knowing anyone. The first person I remember seeing is this gentleman wearing a cap sitting up front of the Final Cut Pro system who later introduces himself as Ralph Fairweather. There were about 30-40 people in the room. The meeting got started by Mr. Michael Horton, and we were all asked to stand up and introduce ourselves and what we do(try doing that at the next meeting!
Ralph Fairweather demos Final Cut Pro 1 and the rest is history...I feel very proud and honored to say I attended and was a part of that first meeting. Congratulations Michael! I can't believe it's been 10 years and have fond memories of that very first meeting.