I am one of those few Finale users who always purchase the new upgrades and I'm never dissapointed. I'm not usually vocal about that.
Mark McCarron --- On Wed, 5/20/09, dhbailey <dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com> wrote: > From: dhbailey <dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com> > Subject: Re: [Finale] Sibelius 6 > To: finale@shsu.edu > Date: Wednesday, May 20, 2009, 6:39 AM > Darcy James Argue wrote: > > The demo video is really impressive. There are always > hiccups and stuff that doesn't work quite as well as it > could, but this feature set sure looks like a worthy > upgrade, with lots of notation-centric improvements. I hope > it spurs Finale to match Sib's new features, especially > the layout tools. > > > > As a Finale loyalist, It burns to see the principles > behind Finale's vertical collision plug-in -- a great > idea crippled by shoddy implementation -- featured so > prominently in the new version of Sibelius. > > > > The auto-aligning dynamics and hairpins looks great, > and is something Finale should have and could have > implemented a long time ago. > > > > I think this also clearly shows the insanity of > Finale's yearly update schedule. Sibelius looks now to > be on a biennial update schedule and for the last three > versions now, the improvements have been substantial, > allowing them to charge more ($169.00 for an upgrade from > Sib5) and, I suspect, sell a lot more upgrades. > > > > As a member of the Sibelius group at yahoogroups, I have to > say that there I don't recall there being anybody who > complains about the upgrade schedule. And while there are > those who don't upgrade due to financial restrictions, > I've never read that people aren't upgrading because > they want to wait to see how the new features work and > whether they really work at all, and never has anybody > posted that they're skipping an upgrade because the > improvements and additions in any single Sib upgrade > aren't worth it. At least that I recall. > > One thing that Finale has done is to create a gun-shy user > base, at least as indicated on this group. Many people > don't jump on Finale upgrades the way they used to > because of the horrible bugs which have been prevalent in > the initial releases of the past several annual Finale > upgrades. How many messages on this group have been of the > "I'll wait until they bring out the Fin200Xa > patch" which can't be helpful to the financial > engine of the company. I wonder how many people hold off > waiting for the first update patch to the upgrade (what a > stupid thing that a company's user base has to wait for > such a thing to feel comfortable with a new version) only to > find that when the update patch is released the > early-adopters aren't raving about how much got fixed. > There must be many people who waited for the update patch > and then waited an additional period for the "b" > patch (not there always is one) or simply decide they were > smart not to fall for that upgrade and simply wait for the > next full version upgrade hoping the major bugs introduced > in the current version manage to get fixed in the next full > version upgrade? > > Sibelius' current biennial update schedule does several > things, all of which seem to be positive: > 1) people have longer to get comfortable with the additions > and changes and can actually get a lot of work done before > having to relearn stuff in the new version; > 2) the cost of a biennial Sibelius upgrade is a little > cheaper than what the early-adopters of the annual Finale > upgrades have to pay for their concurrent 2-version upgrades > matching the Sibelius single upgrade; > 3) the Sibelius development team has much longer to squash > any bugs and to ensure that everything is working as it > should so that complaints are minimal with new releases, > raising the confidence level for the end-users; > 4) people can buy the Sibelius upgrade and hold off on > installing it if they would rather finish current projects > in the older version, knowing that even if they wait nine > months to install it, they'll get well over a year's > use out of the new version before upgrading again. With > Finale, if a person does that, they only get 3 months of use > out of a new version (hardly enough time to really learn all > the new features and to feel comfortable with the > annually-rearranged menu structure) so I recall reading some > posts where people have held off installing the new version > of Finale they paid for, only to complain that it's > still shrink-wrapped when the next version comes out. > > The prevailing attitude towards the corporation on the > Sibelius group is positive. Can the same be said about the > prevailing attitude towards the corporation on this Finale > list? > > We'll know in a couple of months whether Finale has > finally solved the problems that arose in Fin2009 and > managed any similar improvements to what Sibelius has to > offer. > > I sure hope so because I want Finale to continue to survive > and to keep its user base, if only to keep providing > inspiration for Sibelius to use to actually implement the > concepts better, and to provide competition so that Sibelius > as a company doesn't become complacent but continues to > make huge improvements with each new version. > > I would love to once again feel confident enough in a new > version of Finale that I would place my order the day I > learn about the upgrade. I used to do that, all the way > from Fin3.5 (my first Finale version) up until the Fin2009 > version, which I skipped totally and have been glad I did. > > But now I make the same leap for the new version of > Sibelius that I used to make for Finale. > > The ball's in your court, MakeMusic! > > > > -- David H. Bailey > dhbai...@davidbaileymusicstudio.com > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > Finale@shsu.edu > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list Finale@shsu.edu http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
