Only thing I'd point out is that you must remember that what Sonic Foundry did isn't really relevant at this point.....It's not Sonic Foundry any longer.

It is and it isn't. They are mostly the same people doing the same kind of work in the same location. And a lot of what they are doing now must have been planned during the SoFo days.
But several issues may make their task a different one this time. There may be compatibility issues that are introduced because of Sony's alliances or strategies. Sony may have had to renegotiate the use of some of the codecs Vegas uses. Sony may have a different view on what a good product life-curve should look like. Sony must have a different approach to marketing, simply because it is international (and solvent) plus the fact that the Sony name carries so much weight on its own.
I'll stand by what I said on another thread: When the rumours and leaks start to appear (and they have not), there's still at least 5 or 6 weeks to go.
Tor

TorS, one question that I've always has is, when you say, "When the rumours and leaks start to appear (and they have not), there's still at least 5 or 6 weeks to go."

Is that refering to how long until the beta comes available for testing? That's what I would assume, but we all know what assuming can do!

From Charlie White's current lead article at the Digital Video Editing website: www.digitalvideoediting.com/

Crystal Ball 2004.

"Also riding slightly against the grain will be Sony, with its new-found Vegas editing software, formerly belonging to Sonic Foundry. I predict that we’ll see an awesome implementation of the brilliant Vegas paired with some as-yet-unseen Sony hardware by NAB this April. With its formidable HD format known as HDCam SR, Sony must be dreaming of strapping Vegas onto its 10-bit HD videotape acquisition format. And, as I lean toward the catty side, I must blurt out that I think that maybe by the time Sony replaces its lame CEO Nobuyuki Idei, which I predict will happen by mid-year, someone will figure out that Sony’s hapless editing system, Xpri, is outclassed by Vegas and should take its place next to the Betamax in the ash heap of history. But that’s not to cast lasting dispersions on the Japanese giant – I see a big turnaround for Sony, starting this year, and content creation will be one of its strengths in the coming years."

I can't remember them doing a public beta-- they have, as memory serves, had invited certain people to test the beta, but that's about it.

Off topic-- Did they ever find out EXACTLY where the leaked screen shots from Vegas 4 came from? I'm sure someone remembers them...

Yes. That's how it was about a year ago. But there is no guarantee it will be like that next time.
Tor
Edit - Vegas 4 had a public beta.

Public beta comes out after the private beta--guys like Spot, maybe Ed etc play around with it----I would think that a 12 month cycle might be difficult to acheive this time around considering the acquisition and all that entails.

Well, last year at NAB SoFo released 4.0b version with HD capabilities. I figured if they are working on an 18 month cycle we should see the next version of Vegas sometime around August. If not then hopefully we'll see some new stuff at NAB.

So, I'm guessing no one really remembers the track record.

What I'm really interested to see is wheather they have been planning to bump up the compositing features a little with rotoscoping and object tracking capabilities. Or (almost as good), apply their intuitive design skills to a standalone compositing app that would compete with After Effects and Commotion.

JBJones