The End of FINALE

[John Ruggero]

Another homebody here. Never owned a laptop. Nor a smart phone. Be lost without my trusty desktop.

[David Ward]

My 12 year old desktop Mac Mini won't allow software capable of running Dorico 5, so my 9 year old MacBook is due to function for a while as my new desktop connecting to a large portrait orienting monitor etc etc.

I'm just now typing this on a brand new MacBook which I plan to take with me on my autumn travels loaded with both Finale 27 and Dorico 5. All being well, I'm hoping to have at least some opportunities to experiment with Dorico during an expected seven weeks away from home. Eventually I aim to get a new desktop Mac Mini. In the meantime, I'm struck by the clarity of the new MacBook's screen, which allows me to read a whole page of a rather larger orchestral score than I had believed possible on such a modest sized display. (The new MacBook is also quite astonishingly - even alarmingly - fast.)

As for a smartphone, my shaky 83 year old hands make mine very difficult to use, but I'm near enough forced to own it. eg Here in Scotland they have closed most of the rural bank branches, so without my own transport (and in the absence of a lift) I would need to spend £120 (US $158) on taxi fares to visit the nearest bank branch. For whatever nonsense reason, my internet banking requires a smartphone for various security operations. I also use it for getting train tickets in advance, although I do as much as I can on a computer before transferring it to the iPhone.

On the other hand… I write all my scores in manuscript before ‘engraving’ them in Finale, or soon I expect in Dorico.

[John Ruggero]

Hi David. Sorry they have you over a technological barrel. I too had to buy another computer, a mini, when I switched to Dorico last year, so now I have three minis, two with older operating systems and all three with Finale on them. Hoping that will hold me in the archive area. I use a little flip phone for traveling. No smart phone and, even better, no smart phone bill.

[JJP]

I use a little flip phone for traveling. No smart phone and, even better, no smart phone bill.

It warms my heart to know that you don’t have a smart phone. I have never owned a cell phone, which befuddles many colleagues. I’m no technophobe, but I never had a desire or particular need for one. I do own an iPad.

Now if I do buy a cell phone, most of my friends and family will be disappointed.

[John Ruggero]

Well that makes two of us, JJP. The idea of being tethered to a device sounds like something out of hell to me. The robo-calls are bad enough.

My wife has an iPhone, parked, and just for the grandkids.

[NorFonts]

Out of topic (maybe):

— Don't you think that Sibelius might have the same end like Finale in the next 10 years or so? I feel that Dorico will be an all time winner.

[John Ruggero]

I suddenly have this image of the Statue of Liberty with Daniel Spreadbury's face on it and the caption:

Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your software.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden Dorico!

[Fred G. Unn]

Don't you think that Sibelius might have the same end like Finale in the next 10 years or so?

A few years ago I would have said yes. Avid seems to have some renewed interest in it though, and it is being actively being developed again, so I don't really know. MuseScore is crushing the educational market though. Probably 90% adoption rate among undergrads and 80% among grad students that I teach. Tough to compete with free. The recent influx of Finale users to the Dorico forum suggests that this was probably a nice little boost to Dorico's bottom line anyway.

Sib obviously missed out big on the Finale to Dorico conversion. Everyone hates the Avid subscription model. Even their "perpetual" license is BS as it's only "perpetual" for you. If you have to remain compatible with other co-workers or students you have to keep current. In all honesty, I find Pro Tools a pain too. I've just been on it so long and every single recording studio uses it so I'm stuck with it. Clearly I'm not a fan of Avid.

[JJP]

I lift my lamp beside the golden Dorico!

I have lost all respect for you.

[John Ruggero]

What can I do or say, JJP? I am "dad" joke addict...