I’ve been using the Finale music notation software for years. My relationship with the software grew out of necessity. I did not know of any serious alternatives at the time (c. 2000), and it was a great improvement from writing music by hand.

Over time, though, my relationship with the software has turned sour. In 2003, I bought a Macintosh computer, and only then did I understand just how rotten the software could be. It was glacially slow, even though my Mac was no slouch, the shortcuts were completely different from the Windows counterpart, and MakeMusic had tremendous trouble releasing an OS X version on time. When they finally released version 2004 for OS X, it was practically unusable.

The 2006 release was not much better. The original install disc overwrote the user’s “Application Support” folder, thereby causing the user to lose all application-specific data, such as all information in the Address Book. Thankfully, MakeMusic had to acknowledge the bug and release revised installation discs, but how could the beta-testing team not notice something that huge?

Through all my complaints, I still use the software, mostly because I’ve invested so many years into learning the program that the thought of going through the learning curve with another program is just not appealing. Someday, my patience is bound to run out, and then a competitor(such as Sibelius) will get my business. My greatest hope is that an open-source notation/composition software project will mature enough to compete with the big boys.

Are there any other disgruntled Finale users out there, or am I just an oddity?