Steve Schow wrote:
Furtheremore, with
keyboard macros
and plugins, I can work so fast that I can't imagine Sibelius (or any
other program) being any faster.
Robert, as a new Finale user, let me just say that if you or someone like you wrote a
book on how to become a Finale power user this way, I think it would sell like hot cakes.
Not another book on how to format finale documents in every way possible. Rather, a
book on how to use finale quickly using keyboard macros and plugins. I keep hearing from
power users that this is one of the main benefits of Finale, but everytime I pull out
Finale, I end up doing everything the "hard way".
Keyboard macros are independent of the application they're used in,
aren't they? Using a program such as Quickeys or another keyboard macro
program, Sibelius macros can be programmed just as easily as Finale
macros can be programmed.
And for those who have been turned off by Sibelius's numeric-keypad
palette with it's multiple pages to sort through to find the element you
wish to place, it's important to remember that Sibelius has a built-in
utility to program key-stroke combinations. So for those Finale users
who use speedy entry and your computer keyboard to determine note
values, you can program the top-row number keys to imitate Finale's
top-row number keys in Speedy, to set note values.
I'm not sharing all this Sibelius stuff in any attempt to lure people
away from Finale, but to help Finale users know that Sibelius isn't such
a lousy program to move to from Finale as it used to be, in an effort to
get us all to hold MakeMusic's feet to the fire.
Robert Patterson in another post mentioned that Tom Carrathers was able
to use Fin2008 to show just how close to Sibelius Finale has come, in an
effort to lure potential new customers who may be about to buy Sibelius.
Imagine that, the industry leader now needing to show how close to the
former number 2 it has come, rather than simply showing what a wonderful
program Finale is in all its glory so that number 2 stays number 2.
There was a short blurb in PCWorld (at least the on-line edition) about
the release of Sibelius 5, which starts off by calling Sibelius the
world's best selling notation software. True or not, that sort of
mass-media statement becomes gospel when read by someone new to the
notation marketplace, so they don't even look at Finale, figuring that
if it's not number one, it'll be gone soon so why put good money into it.
Where is the marketing department at MakeMusic that this sort of
impression can be put forth and believed? Not a single mention or
comparison to Finale2008, yet it is being released (or should we more
accurately say, rushed to market before ascertaining it's mature and
ready) at the same time.
MakeMusic has to do some major corporate rethinking in order to survive
in this marketplace, in my opinion.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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