PrintMusic and NotePad for Mac discontinued!

[miker]

https://www.finalemusic.com/blog/finale ... gh-sierra/

[zuill]

Time marches on. How might this affect the profits of MakeMusic? I would imagine their highest income is from Finale, and not PrintMusic, so it might improve the profit margin. However, it is ominous, isn't it. As far as Notepad, that has been behind anyway. However, it seems there will no longer be a way to send Finale files to someone to view and listen to.

Zuill

[miker]

There is always PDF and an accompanying sound file.

[N Grossingink]

There is always PDF and an accompanying sound file.

Or, MuseScore and flip-flopping with XML. I imported a few MuseScore XMLs into Finale and the results looked pretty good. Don't know how Finale XML to MuseScore is, though. The simpler the file, the better, I'm guessing.

For those who are wondering, Finale will export XML files, MuseScore will open them. MuseScore will export XML files, Finale will open them. That's the flip-flop.

N.

[BuonTempi]

I think that Finale's demo version should offer the "NotePad" subset of features after the 30 day expiry. So you can still save and print, but have annoyingly arbitrary limits placed across the whole feature set.

[miker]

Not a bad idea, at all. Why not submit it on the other forum, in their feature requests section? That way, they can officially ignore it!

[MikeHalloran]

Or, MuseScore and flip-flopping with XML. I imported a few MuseScore XMLs into Finale and the results looked pretty good. Don't know how Finale XML to MuseScore is, though. The simpler the file, the better, I'm guessing.

It leaves a bit to be desired but the current version of MuseScore is no longer horrible in that regard. How much of that is due to the recent improvements to MusicXML in Finale is something I don't know. Neither am I going to take the time to find out.

I am just not a fan of MuseScore.

[MikeHalloran]

As I posted in the other forum,

I have already loaded a test drive with PM 2014.5, Finale 2014.5 and NotePad 2012. It will be the first drive that I upgrade to High Sierra. I will then test and post my results.

Normally, I am an early adopter and let the chips fall where they will in that regards but not this time. I have been hearing some ugly things about Microsoft Office for Mac and OS 10.13. I hope that they have been resolved by release date — if not, I won't update till they've been resolved. Word and Excel are necessary for my day job.

I trust MM to resolve any growing pains that occur with 25 once High Sierra ships.

[motet]

My guess is it's not ominous, but rather too expensive having Apple pull the rug out from under them every time there's a new version of the OS.

[Anders Hedelin]

Yes, Apple certainly is breathing down our necks. I'm seriously thinking about installing Windows on my MacBook Pro. I don't see many advantages in keeping on to the blatantly user-unfriendly Apple.

[BuonTempi]

My guess is it's not ominous, but rather too expensive having Apple pull the rug out from under them every time there's a new version of the OS.

Apple goes to tremendous lengths to keep code working (which has included CPU emulation for two different chip sets). It also gives developers YEARS of warnings before removing or modifying existing APIs. There are APIs that have been deprecated for ten years, but which are still included in the OS and continue to function.

And yet, when it does make changes, developers are somehow "caught out", and the user curses Apple for "pulling the rug out from under them". Lest we forget, companies like Intuit and FontLab were "surprised" by Apple removing the PPC emulation, despite being warned for seven years to adapt their software.

I've written a lot of code that accesses the Mac PDF creation and editing APIs -- the same ones that Preview and the print system uses. It works on any Mac from Leopard (10.5) to the present, because the APIs haven't changed in ten years. I wrote an app in 2007 (admittedly, very basic) that continues to work unmodified on the latest OS.

Things do break when new OSes are released, sure. Why that happens, I suspect, is more complex than simply Apple messing with stuff unexpectedly for the sake of it.
Interestingly, since Finale has been re-written to use the Cocoa APIs, rather than the legacy Carbon ones from pre-OS X days, new Mac OS versions have affected it less.

[Anders Hedelin]

BuonTempi, how do you explain that Apple doesn't give you the opportunity to run Finale 25 on OS 10.8 while Windows does so with an 'older' system like W 7?

[BuonTempi]

BuonTempi, how do you explain that Apple doesn't give you the opportunity to run Finale 25 on OS 10.8 while Windows does so with an 'older' system like W 7?

Without seeing MM's code, it's impossible to say. However, while Apple don't change existing APIs, they do add new ones, and so it's possible that Finale uses newer code that won't run on earlier versions. So older apps, if written correctly, should work on newer machines, but newer code won't work on older ones.

[Anders Hedelin]

I'm nothing of a programmer, so I know nothing of API's for example. I only know that my oldish Windows 7 can handle Finale 25, and Mac 10.8 can't.
Sorry, but I've had it with Apple.

[BuonTempi]

I'm nothing of a programmer, so I know nothing of API's for example. I only know that my oldish Windows 7 can handle Finale 25, and Mac 10.8 can't.
Sorry, but I had it with Apple.

Why not upgrade the Mac OS to a newer version, so you can run newer apps? MacBook Pros from 2010 onwards can run the latest (and next) OS; MBPs from 2007-2009 can run 10.11, at most.

All things come to an end: the latest version of MS Office doesn't work on Windows XP.

[Anders Hedelin]

Yes, there is a reason. Firstly, I have a few older programs that wouldn't work with the upgrade, secondly, I resent being told that program X 'doesn't support the version of Safari you have', and so on. There are never any problems of that kind on Windows.

[BuonTempi]

There are never any problems of that kind on Windows.

Even with my limited knowledge of Windows, I know for a fact that's not true! As I said: the latest version of Office doesn't run on XP., and I imagine it won't be long before W7 will be on the margin. There are plenty of versions of IE that are no longer supported or that lack compatibility with various protocols. If you think everything will work on W7 forever, you're sadly mistaken.

Out of curiosity, what apps won't work on newer OS versions? Are you sure they don't have updates?

There are two choices with computing: one is to never update anything, but only use apps, systems and hardware that all date from a certain era; the other is to engage in a continual round of updating of hardware, the OS that goes on it, and the apps that run on that. These days, software gets updated automatically so frequently that it's barely noticeable.

[Anders Hedelin]

What applications would not work with Mac 10.8? Well, Adobe InDesign, for example, wich I purchased honestly when that was still possible. Upgrading, I fear that I would have to lease a program that I only use occasionally.

[BuonTempi]

What applications would not work with Mac 10.8? Well, Adobe InDesign, for example, wich I purchased honestly when that was still possible. Upgrading, I fear that I would have to lease a program that I only use occasionally.

You mean "what would not work beyond 10.8?" I inferred that you were on 10.8 and don't want to upgrade.

Which version of InDesign? I use InDesign Creative Suite 6, which continues to work without issue since I bought it in 2012. I think 5.5 works, if not on the latest, then on some later version that might also let you run Finale 25.

Alternatively, you can run earlier versions of OS X inside a Virtual Machine. I have Mountain Lion in a VM so I can run old versions of software (mainly Finale...!). The whole OS is just like an app window inside my Mac.

[Anders Hedelin]

Well, there are reasons why I don't want to upgrade - one is that my InDesign is from CS4, and it won't be possible to have an upgrade from Adobe now, is it? I simply decided to change to a system that I trust more.

[BuonTempi]

So you've already moved entirely to Windows? OK. I hope it works out for you.

However, according to Adobe, there are known issues running CS4 on Windows 7. They might not affect you in your work, but it's not all kittens and unicorns on Windows. OS updates on both platforms break things.

[Anders Hedelin]

So far I haven't seen any kittens nor unicorns on Windows. Nor on
Mac.

[Anders Hedelin]

If you are happy with the upgrading frenzy of Apple, it's ok with me. I'm not.

[raphael]

Does this mean that if I upgrade to High Sierra and then forward a newly created .mus file to someone who only has NotePad 2012 on his/her PC or Mac, he/she will not be able to use it as before?

I'm confused…

raphael

[zuill]

I think programs already installed will continue to function. However, I don't know for sure.

Zuill