A question about MuseScore that I saw brought up

[MichelRE]

I saw some mentions of this, but was wondering if it was just random rumour-mongering or if it had some basis in truth:

Is MuseScore funded by Russian money?

While others may not agree with me, my political leanings make it impossible for me to use a product that is developed with Russian money.

[Harpsichordmaker]

Here is said Musescore company is (or was) based in Russia: https://musescore.org/en/node/301153

In 2021 there were rumours about Audacity having become a spyware: viewtopic.php?t=765

That’s all I know.

[Fred G. Unn]

Well, Ultimate Guitar was certainly originally Russian. They even famously argued that their "site violated no laws because its headquarters were in Russia, and the site’s practices complied with Russian laws."
https://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/21/tech ... 1ecom.html

Ultimate Guitar purchased MuseScore in 2018, so I assume Russian money has been involved since then anyway:
https://www.scoringnotes.com/news/ultim ... musescore/

Looks like MuseGroup is headquartered in Cyprus now.

[NeeraWM]

While others may not agree with me, my political leanings make it impossible for me to use a product that is developed with Russian money.

However difficult that may be, I always try to keep politics away from the music.

Let's try to reverse the coin for a moment: would anyone here stop using Dorico or Sibelius (both based in the UK) if the UK started to massacre an ethnic minority inside of their territory or if they invaded, say, Ireland or France?
Imagine this happening in the middle of a big project with a tight deadline. Would you suddenly XML your project away to... no idea what...

This is just to widen a bit the scope because, as an Italian, my public school education kept all of us in the shadow of the fact that, in 1915, Italy invaded a sovereign state (Austria) with the pretext of "freeing" the Italians living in Veneto & Friuli, the true goal being expansion. My country, back then, did the same thing Russia did in 2022, invading with the pretext of "freeing" their people from oppression.
Still, we have not stopped eating pizza and pasta, right?

Of course, everyone should do what they feel right to do.