Darcy James Argue wrote:
I got my cross-grade copy last week but am only now getting around to
installing it. I still haven't test-driven the program yet, but I have
been reading with great interest the list of bugfixes in Sib 5.1
available here:
http://www.sibelius.com/helpcenter/updates/sib51_changes.pdf
There has been a lot of (justified, IMO) complaining on this list about
the bugginess of Fin2008. And I do sincerely hope that Fin2008a will be
a major bugfix release. But just for a sense of perspective, take a look
at just a few of the Sib 5.0 bugs that were not fixed until maintenance:
Moving notes between voices using Alt+2 or z2 etc. no longer causes
Sibelius to lose articulations.
Changing the frequency of bar numbers no longer changes their vertical
position relative to the staff.
Edits made after a blank page that occurs after the start of the score
no longer causes multiple extra blank
pages to appear in the middle of the score.
When adding text to a blank page, the text now immediately appears
once you finish editing; you no
longer need to force the page to redraw (Mac only).
It is once again possible to create barré lines in chord diagrams.
Copy Part Layout now works correctly.
Sibelius no longer crashes if you create an ossia, then undo it, then
switch to a dynamic part.
You can now correctly save changes made in the Notes > Edit Arrange
Styles dialog.
This is just a small selection of what seemed like the most egregious
bugs in from the first *two* pages of an *18-page* PDF.
I don't say this to excuse the bugginess of the initial release of
Finale 2008, nor the longstanding unfixed bugs in Finale. But it seems
pretty clear from perusing this list that the initial release of Sib 5
was extremely buggy -- quite possibly at least as buggy as the initial
release of Fin2008.
I don't intend to use Sib 5.0 enough to learn whether this impression is
accurate -- the very first thing I will do after installing Sib 5.0 is
to install the Sib 5.1 upgrade. But it does seem that both companies
have a similar "release first, fix in maintenance" mentality that is
(IMO) detrimental to their long-term health.
It's true that at least Sibelius is actually fixing this stuff (though I
don't know how far back any of these bugs go, or how many remain
unresolved), and that Finale has allowed certain major bugs to remain
unfixed, year after year. And I sincerely hope that Finale start making
bufixes a serious priority.
But, at least based on this list, it's not true that the initial release
of SIb 5.0 was all sunshine and light, while the initial release of
Finale 2008 was a mess. In fact, both would appear to have been not
ready for prime time.
While that list of bugs which were fixed is very impressive, and if
anybody ran into them they would have been quite annoying, reading the
Sibelius group since the original release of Sib5.0 it is easy to see
that most of those bugs which were fixed didn't bite anybody in the butt
the same way that the Finale bugs have bitten finale users.
There was no hue and cry about those bugs on the Sibelius list, and no
complaint about long-standing bugs which haven't been fixed.
Most of the Sibelius bugs which were specifically listed are grouped
together in any Finale "What is fixed in Finale2008a" (don't we wish we
could read such a document?) under the "and many more." phrase and not
spelled out. In other words, Sibelius isn't trying to hide their
mistakes, they're going public with them as well as fixing them.
If you read in that list from Sibelius "egregious file corruption on
OS-X has been fixed" is noticeably missing because it was never a problem.
Having used both Sib5 and Fin2k8, Sibelius5.0 was much more ready for
prime time than Finale2008. And Sibelius5.1 addresses those issues
(which were not complained about on the Sibelius list in the first
place) which have been discovered (or were known about amid the decision
to release with bugs and then fix in the update) while Finale2008a is
still just a pipe dream.
--
David H. Bailey
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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