On Saturday, June 7, 2003, at 01:35 AM, Craig Parmerlee wrote:
As I suggested earlier, when using an object based storage approach (which apparently Finale doesn't) the normal practice would be to store multiple versions of the objects so that back level releases would be able to see something they recognize.
As a user, I'd know that I shouldn't invest a lot of effort during the collaboration phase making the score look pretty. I'd do that work at the end of the project in a final typesetting pass.
It is no different with Word, Excel or any other end-user application. If you are collaborating electronically, it is up to the user to avoid the use of features that are above the "least common dominator" of the software in use by the partners. There really isn't anything new about that, as far as I can see.
Craig,
Excuse me if I misunderstand, but what you are describing above seems approximately doable in Finale right now, albeit not as elegantly as one might like. Since there's no problem in having multiple different versions of Finale installed on the same system, everyone just works in the "lowest common denominator" version of Finale -- if one of your partners only has Finale 2000, then that's what you use. Then, once the collaboration is complete, whoever is responsible for the final version -- say, you, for instance -- opens the file in Finale 2003 and applies the final changes. Since Finale has, in recent versions, become very good at translating older files without a hitch, the only drawback here is that the bulk of the work needs to be done in Finale 2000 -- so you wouldn't be able to implement the newer, niftier features (like engraver slurs). But since, as you say above, "it's up to the user to avoid the use of features that are above the 'least common denonminator,'" this may actually be an *advantage* because it prevents the accidental use of such features. In other words, even if there *were* cross-platform compatibility, a Finale 2003 file with engraver slurs would still have to revert back to regular slurs when opened with Finale 2001 or earlier -- so it might be better to do all the collaborative work in an environment where engraver slurs are not possible, then have someone implement them in the final pass.
Just a thought... obviously, true cross-version compatibility is still a very desirable goal, but it's not like upgrading to Finale 2003 prevents you from collaborating with Finale 2000 users. Just fire up the earlier version.
- Darcy
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