The End of Finale
Finale, a decades‑old music notation program, is being sunset by MakeMusic, triggering strong reactions over licensing, long‑term access and the fate of users’ score libraries. Many criticize the plan to eventually disable new activations on fresh installations as a betrayal of “perpetual” licenses and a threat to archival access, arguing the company should either remove DRM, provide a standalone converter, or open‑source the code. Others point to economic realities, Finale’s aging codebase, and the availability of discounted crossgrades to Dorico and free alternatives like MuseScore, highlighting a broader tension between software business models and users’ expectations of permanent local tools.
Reaction to Finale’s End-of-Life and Authorization Policy
- Many see the initial plan to stop new authorizations after a year as “user‑hostile,” arguing it effectively revokes a perpetual license for locally installed software.
- Others counter that shutting down a long‑running, legacy codebase is painful but sometimes unavoidable, and note Finale gave notice, refunds for recent buyers, and a discounted path to Dorico.
- Strong disagreement over framing: some call it “stealing” or “sabotage”; others say the product is simply dying as a business and can’t be expected to run forever.
Clarifications and Walk‑backs
- Later updates from MakeMusic (quoted in the thread) say:
- Authorization “will remain available indefinitely,” though future OS changes may still break installations.
- Finale installers remain downloadable, and they’re working on ensuring Dorico crossgraders can also get Finale v27 for MusicXML 4.0 export.
- Several commenters note the initial communication created avoidable panic by implying a hard cutoff.
File Access, Archival, and Conversion
- Major concern: large libraries of .mus/.musx files becoming inaccessible if installs can’t be re‑authorized or if OSes move on.
- Finale already exports MusicXML and PDF, but converting thousands of files manually is seen as an unreasonable burden.
- Suggestions:
- Free, no‑DRM “viewer/converter” or batch MusicXML/PDF tool.
- At minimum, keep activation working or patch out the check so old installs can be recreated indefinitely.
Ethics, Law, and DRM
- Debate over whether remote activation for non‑cloud, perpetual software should be legal at all.
- Some argue EULAs and “remote authorization” terms don’t morally justify turning off re‑installs; call for consumer‑protection rules similar to first‑sale doctrine.
- Others emphasize that anyone buying remotely authorized software assumes the risk servers may be shut down.
Alternatives and Industry Impact
- Dorico widely praised as modern and well‑designed but with a learning curve and higher cost; some suspect the Steinberg deal influenced Finale’s shutdown choices.
- Sibelius, MuseScore, and LilyPond are discussed as alternatives, each with trade‑offs in usability, playback, and engraving.
- Commenters highlight the small, specialized pool of developers who understand both advanced notation and C++, and view Finale’s demise as the loss of a historically important tool.