Trying to figure out the future of Finale -- and MakeMusic's plans for the
product -- without any concrete internal information is more like reading
tea leaves than serious analysis, but the tea leaves we've been left
appear to me to be gathering in an inauspicious pattern. In the years
that I've been following this list, there have been plenty of complaints,
and some defections, but up until the latest version, the voices standing
up for Finale outweighed those advocating another product, and the other
products all had serious deficiencies for professional work when viewed
soberly. However, this market environment is no longer the case, and
there have been precious few signs that MakeMusic is responding to
concerns in a serious way. This group has constantly signaled (if not
shouted) that the preference was for bug fixing and better customer
service and not for more "bells and whistles" and continued form letter
responses to serious customer issues.
Today (the first of December 2007), I received another tea leaf: for the
first time, a bit of advertisement for Finale 2008 from the Finale dealer
here in Germany. This is an astonishly late date for this notice and the
meagre list of new features listed in the brochure as well the pricing for
the upgrades (Euro129,95 from Finale 2007, Euro179,95 from 2006, and
Euro229,95 from earlier versions) are scarcely incentives to upgrade,
especially when the competitive upgrade to Sibelius is in view.
Since we have been getting so little in the way of concrete responses from
MakeMusic, it occurs to me that it might be better for list members to try
to use local dealers to lobby for changes in the product. They, too, have
a vital interest in retaining their customers, and outside of the US,
MakeMusic depends upon them for getting the product out.
Daniel Wolf
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