Obviously they want to keep their dirty laundry inside the company, which is understandable.
It is also understandable that after investing so much to fund that 2.5 year hiatus between products, the owners really couldn't chance shaking things up before the product launch. The fact that they did this 3 weeks after the product launch is telling. That means that the owners felt very strongly that they needed to make major changes, and they are doing so at their first real opportunity. That much is perfectly clear. What isn't so clear is what the new direction is. Are they going the way of Avid, essentially shutting it down and milking the cash cow? It doesn't really appear so. If that isn't the idea, then what are they trying to do? I would point out that Finale 2014 essentially provides no real advancement in the start of the art. It is clearly a better implementation of the same old features than what we had with 2011 and 2012. But there is nothing at all innovative in this package. That's not really a criticism. Other than some typical bugs that I'm sure will be worked out in due course, I really like Finale 2014 and don't regret the upgrade at all. It "feels" better to use. Lots of little things seem to work better, But without real innovation: a) you cannot ask much for the upgrade price, and b) not many users will rush forward with their wallets open. And that makes for a business case that simply doesn't work. You have to either strip it down to the thinnest possible skeleton crew or else you have to make a commitment to truly innovate. There is no middle ground. The cash cow strategy would be attractive financially, but probably only works for another year or two as Steinberg and others should be bringing fresher products to the market. The fact that MakeMusic did create several new openings gives me hope that they are going to try to get back into an innovation mode, which is the only way the product will be able to exist 5 years from now. If Justin and others are tuning in, I'd like to thank them for all their efforts. As person who has been on both ends of these reorganizations (being "restructured" personally and having to carry out the "restructuring") I know that can be personally devastating. But there is life after that, and soon you will look upon the years at MakeMusic as a time of great learning that serves you well in the rest of your professional life. On 11/20/2013 10:27 AM, Richard Yates wrote: > Although I have not upgraded for several years, this news is nonetheless, of > concern. The link describes major restructuring and a search for people to > fill positions of "software developer; a software QA engineer; and a product > designer." So they got out a new version, with its inevitable bugs, fired > everyone, and are trying to find people to replace them. That sounds pretty > chaotic to me. > > What also caught my attention in the article was this: "...a key part of > MakeMusic's marketing strategy for Finale 2014 is to tout that "while others > take music notation software development for granted, Finale is doubling > down to provide you and your music a clear path to tomorrow." > > That is the most meaningless, tortuous, tangled-metaphor, marketing-speak > sentence that I have seen in long, long time. There is not a single phrase > in it that makes any sense at all. "Doubling down"? "others take software > development for granted"? > > Is it supposed to be a great relief that Finale is there to give my "music a > clear path to tomorrow"? > > It's laughable. > > Richard Yates > > _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
