(This was after Final Cut Pro X, not 7.)
Although you may have been unsatisfied with iMovie, it is in fact the free tier of Final Cut Pro, much as GarageBand is the free tier of Logic.
Interestingly enough, iMovie and GarageBand even have iPhone and iPad versions (though sadly there's no iPadOS version of FCP/Logic yet.) Though Final Cut Pro and Logic do run amazingly well on an M1 Mac mini.
Are they though?
I think of a free version as having the same interface and core functionality with locked features. Does iMovie have the same interface/menus/workflow as Final Cut now?
These seem more like the "let's not dilute the product by repackaging some of the codebase into a mass market interface" versions.
Admittedly I haven't used them in years but I do recall learning about non linear editing in premiere pro years ago and ditching iMovie for adobe in a flash.
More recently I've gone the resolve route as well, even though I have active adobe subscriptions through with along with years of experience.
I just don't like cloud dependent software.
As I understand it, it was Final Cut Pro X that changed to be closer to iMovie; this was criticized at the time as Apple removed several features that had been in Final Cut Pro 7.
All you've done is essentially say, "I'm an end user online who only knows one half of the equation but you should ignore costs!"
It just feels like a failure to engage with the point the article is actually making.
The author appears to have a freemium product in their portfolio, and acknowledges there can be reason for that.
Countless established or major players (Dropbox, Basecamp, Trello, etc) seem to make use of the freemium angle. Suspect there's something in that and that a free tier is a necessary evil at times.