Now Finale is like an overgrown product from other plug-ins developers. Looking closely at the Menu, a lot of features are unnecessary, but a lot of valuable TG and JW plug-ins are not included, although in practice they are like part of the Finale. From what the default Finale plug-ins offer, I practically don't use them. I bought TGTools pro, downloaded JW Fit music. In principle, that would be enough.
There are still many extras living from the Finale. Perfec layout, Note performer, etc. These are inexpensive programs. But don’t Finale designers understand the needs of program users? Why is the program evolving in strange directions, ignoring the essential needs of musicians? I am faced with an assessment: Sibelius was created by musicians who have IT skills, because of the musicians, and in the Finale, by IT experts who know the music but do not really understand what the musicians really need. The most important thing for a developer is to understand the process of writing and composing notes.
In the case of the Finale, it often seems that basically the developers are oriented towards the beginner, and they don't care much about the profs: they will take care of themselves. Marketing is here, but is it productive?
A dead horse ... Hardly. As long as our “veterans” population is alive, the Finale will live out of inertia. But ... anyway, I love the Finale. It, though imperfect, helped me make a career, albeit angry at the details, basically most appreciated for the possibilities of individualization and the practically perfect layout, including JW Fit music. I have a flexible Finale interface that I can shape according to my needs. Overall, I love the Finale and I'am a fan of it, even with all its flaws. But it is disappointing that in the Finale, once a leader in computer notation, he relinquishes positions. Maybe someone will buy and start to develop further, but the technological concept of writing notes itself should not change. Here is the key advantage of the Finale. So, I love Finale even with all its flaws