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The End of Finale

finalemusic.com

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Re: The End of Finale

#31

Post by resonious »

genter wrote: post #2

> It will not be possible to authorize Finale on any new devices, or reauthorize Finale Well that seems like a dick move. > MakeMusic has partnered with Steinberg to offer an exclusive discount on Dorico Pro. So can we assume MakeMusic is getting a kickback for every sale of Dorico? If that's the case, of course they're going to stop you from reinstalling Finale.

Seems quite ridiculous to not just release a free version with no support, no updates, no DRM. It's like they're going out of their way to destroy their legacy. I'd hate to be one of the devs.

Re: The End of Finale

#32

Post by jraph »

junon wrote: post #30
dahart wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sheesh, kinda harsh. The reauthorize deadline isn’t until a year from now. And I wouldn’t assume anything, but I hope they’re making a kickback from sales of Dorico. Given the discount price, even if your assumption is true, it can’t be that much money. This isn’t some kind of massive win for MakeMusic, nor is it greed if they get a little money for moving people to another product. They’re shutting down what once wa…

Some important context here is that Tantacrul has a history of buying up music or audio related software (some of which is Open Source, e.g. Audacity) and trying to take it in New Directions™ in ways nobody wants or asked for. For example, the entire Audacity Google Analytics debacle, and how he basically insulted the entire community when there was an outrage over GA being silently added. MuseScore I'm less familiar…

That's quite the shortcut. Audacity and Musescore belong to the Muse, and the Muse hired Tantacrul. He didn't buy anything. Do we know that he made those decisions?

Yes, questionable stuff was added to Musescore since he joined. I'm particularly not too happy about their push for their Musescore.com cloud in the UI, the proprietary (optional) audio rendering bit, and the proprietary "update manager" in the binaries they distribute. Is he the one who pushed those things though? (Maybe, I don't know. But I doubt it. Those things are mostly business decisions, he is a UX designer).

Musescore also massively improved since he joined. It is a massively better software than before.

But I don't see the connection with the current discussion? We are not talking about Musescore, the Muse or Tantacrul, are we? We are talking about Finale.

Re: The End of Finale

#33

Post by geuis »

Wow. I'm surprised this app has been in development for so long.

I used Finale in highschool in the mid to late 90s to write (admittedly terrible) music when I was in high school. Really amazing program at the time and the instrument voices were good for the time.

I'm sure I have an old piece somewhere floating around on a floppy from that time in a box.

Does anyone happen to know how far back the latest version supports their old file formats?

Re: The End of Finale

#34

Post by macmac »

I am wondering if they cleared this with their lawyers? At a minimum it looks like a variant of a binding resale price, which is not legal in the EU. Yes, Dorico is selling their own product, but it is based on the ownership of of finale. On the other hand it seems pretty obvious that a lot of value is being created for the customers.

Re: The End of Finale

#35

Post by wwweston »

dahart wrote: post #21
genter wrote: post #2

> It will not be possible to authorize Finale on any new devices, or reauthorize Finale Well that seems like a dick move. > MakeMusic has partnered with Steinberg to offer an exclusive discount on Dorico Pro. So can we assume MakeMusic is getting a kickback for every sale of Dorico? If that's the case, of course they're going to stop you from reinstalling Finale.

Sheesh, kinda harsh. The reauthorize deadline isn’t until a year from now. And I wouldn’t assume anything, but I hope they’re making a kickback from sales of Dorico. Given the discount price, even if your assumption is true, it can’t be that much money. This isn’t some kind of massive win for MakeMusic, nor is it greed if they get a little money for moving people to another product. They’re shutting down what once wa…

> This isn’t some kind of massive win for MakeMusic, nor is it greed if they get a little money for moving people to another product.

Yeah, this doesn't smell like a typical financial or strategic move. My guess would be that this is a team that really cared about the product domain to recommend a competitor going forward but also came to recognize retirement needs among their codebase and/or the team itself.

Re: The End of Finale

#36

Post by thombles »

I have fond memories playing with Finale 3 on Win3.11. After that it seemed everyone I knew musically was on Sibelius. What I found most remarkable about that old release is that it came in a huge cardboard box with printed manuals describing how to use every function.

Re: The End of Finale

#37

Post by lozenge »

dahart wrote: post #21
genter wrote: post #2

> It will not be possible to authorize Finale on any new devices, or reauthorize Finale Well that seems like a dick move. > MakeMusic has partnered with Steinberg to offer an exclusive discount on Dorico Pro. So can we assume MakeMusic is getting a kickback for every sale of Dorico? If that's the case, of course they're going to stop you from reinstalling Finale.

Sheesh, kinda harsh. The reauthorize deadline isn’t until a year from now. And I wouldn’t assume anything, but I hope they’re making a kickback from sales of Dorico. Given the discount price, even if your assumption is true, it can’t be that much money. This isn’t some kind of massive win for MakeMusic, nor is it greed if they get a little money for moving people to another product. They’re shutting down what once wa…

The customers paid for a lifetime license, why is a year reasonable to revoke this with no compensation?

Re: The End of Finale

#39

Post by miclill »

resonious wrote: post #31
genter wrote: post #2

> It will not be possible to authorize Finale on any new devices, or reauthorize Finale Well that seems like a dick move. > MakeMusic has partnered with Steinberg to offer an exclusive discount on Dorico Pro. So can we assume MakeMusic is getting a kickback for every sale of Dorico? If that's the case, of course they're going to stop you from reinstalling Finale.

Seems quite ridiculous to not just release a free version with no support, no updates, no DRM. It's like they're going out of their way to destroy their legacy. I'd hate to be one of the devs.

This is just a guess, but maybe the struck a deal with Steinberg that does not allow them to do this?

Re: The End of Finale

#40

Post by squarefoot »

eschaton wrote: post #25

Time for them to release the source code then.

Releasing source code (especially under a permissive license) would be extremely hard, even more so with software that old. There could be small 3rd party modules buried in the code base whose original developer is impossible to find, or could have passed years ago and they have no ways to contact anyone who owns the rights, let alone have everyone of them agree on open sourcing and under which license. There would be a fairly big chance of liability, and I couldn't blame them for not wanting to test that. Software should be open from the beginning.
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