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Joined: Nov 2007
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This is not about spam, nor I work for the company. But there's a lot going on and I think that musicians, composers, copyists, etc, should know about it. http://www.facebook.com/SaveSibeliusEven if you don't use Sibelius and don't care about notation software, be aware that the closing of the offices in the uk, and firing Daniel Spreadbury (an amazing person, truly) will probably halt all Sibelius development and eventually the development of other software (no rivals means no competition, and no competition means no improvement...  ). Even if you don't care about the software, consider that without Sibelius Editions Musica Ferrum would have published thus far around 13 titles, instead of 29, and half of what's coming in the next months! Simple as that! In July 2012, Avid Technology announced the closure of Sibelius UK, home of the Sibelius development and support team. Avid claims this will make no difference to Sibelius. Nothing could be further from the truth. Click "About" to read on... Description Sibelius is a music composing/arranging application designed by the Sibelius Team in the UK Office. The UK Office is closing, and the programmers and designers who have made Sibelius a major success will not be able to further develop the best computer based composing/arranging application in existence today. We implore those of you who use this marvelous composing application to write the board here: http://ir.avid.com/contactBoard.cfmThe direct email addresses for the CEO and other Avid VP/Directors are: Gary Greenfield (CEO): gary.greenfield@avid.com Martin Kloiber (VP Live Systems and Consoles at Avid Technology): martin.kloiber@avid.com Dana Ruzicka (VP Strategic Alliances at Avid Technology): dana.ruzicka@avid.com Ian Bruce (Worldwide Director of Corporate Communications): ian.bruce@avid.com and the AVID Blog: http://community.avid.com/blogs/avid/archive/2012/07/07/sibelius-community.aspxBased on its latest published figures, Avid is in financial trouble. Right after the most recent stockholders meeting, all the Avid board of directors sold significant shares of stock, clearly a co-ordinated sale. Simultaneously, several key executives resigned, including Vice President, CFO and CTO. Avid is short of cash and desperately trying to shore up its liquidity with reckless cost cutting. Sibelius is viable as a standalone company, but without sustained pressure from its users, Avid will try to run it offshore, most likely in the Ukraine. This short-term thinking is solely to ease Avid through its present cash crisis, not in any way for the benefit of Sibelius users. In fact it will effectively destroy Sibelius. Please help us to persuade Avid that it is in everyone’s best interests for them to sell Sibelius to a third party as soon as possible. This will still ease its cash crisis, but will ensure Sibelius lives on in safe hands.
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Joined: Apr 2012
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They fired Dan? That's...shocking! He was so nice...such a shame...
Sometimes, we all just need to be shown a little kindness <3
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I don't think they've fired him just yet, but they're about it.
And I did tell them (as pretty much everyone I know) that Sibelius IS Daniel! without him I wouldn't be using Sibelius!
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Joined: Aug 2009
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I really hope that they don't fire Daniel and that Sibelius will assert itself! I love both!
![[Linked Image]](https://forum.pianoworld.com//gallery/42/medium/10968.png)
Music is my best friend.
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Over and over again, decent and viable small companies are taken over by predatory larger companies, and then their product is run into the ground, and the staff with the deepest knowledge of it is laid off.
It is the magic of the omniscient marketplace in action...how could one ever be so bold as to question the majesty of its workings?
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Joined: Sep 2006
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A cycle that can be avoided by remaining a private company.
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I remember about a year ago thinking that Avid (which was originally a video editing software company) having taken over Pro Tools, M-Audio and Sibelius could have extensive synergies or (if they're incompetent) have over extended themselves. Anyone tracking the performance of AVID (that's the stock ticker) would see that things have been going badly for about 3 years. MakeMusic owner of Finale (MMUS) has done marginally better over the same time period (both are public companies). Avid recently sold off M-Audio to raise cash. Closing down Sibelius implies they couldn't find a buyer for that part of the company. Avid was strongest when it was just the professional video and music production platforms (Avid and Pro Tools) and getting back to that may be what they're aiming to do now.
My personal viewpoint is Sibelius was the best thing to happen to Finale. The competitive pressure made Finale a far better product and more attention was paid to usability. Though I don't use Sibelius I would be sad to see the company go out of business. Apparently closing the UK office is essentially a death sentence, but I don't believe their salvation lies with Avid. Their best bet is to find some capital and take themselves private again.
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Joined: Aug 2010
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Oh no! We were hoping to buy Sibelius very soon just for home use (have a kid interested in composition that used it at a piano camp and loved it). Not sure what to do now.
Amateur musician, piano and violin parent
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"...Over and over again, decent and viable small companies are taken over by predatory larger companies, and then their product is run into the ground..."
Baldwin, to mention only one.
Clef
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To be honest, I remember that when I heard about Avid last year or so I was not happy at all, although I didn't really think they would try to completely take it over just a few months later. 
Music is my best friend.
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I thought they sold the company years ago.
Yamaha AvantGrand N1X | Roland RD 2000 | Sennheiser HD 598 headphones
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Sibelius was sold to Avid in 2006, if not mistaken. But Avid (and pro-tools is a proof of that) managed to destroy pretty much anything audio under their wings...
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Joined: Nov 2006
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My personal viewpoint is Sibelius was the best thing to happen to Finale. The competitive pressure made Finale a far better product and more attention was paid to usability.
The early versions of Finale from the '90's were terribly anti-user friendly according to two older friends (one used it on a Mac, the other in Windows 3.1) of mine who used the program.
Jason
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My personal viewpoint is Sibelius was the best thing to happen to Finale. The competitive pressure made Finale a far better product and more attention was paid to usability.
The early versions of Finale from the '90's were terribly anti-user friendly according to two older friends (one used it on a Mac, the other in Windows 3.1) of mine who used the program. Hmm... I remember Finale 4.0 or something and then came Finale 98 which was pretty much like the current one! :P I've been using finale since about that time (which is almost 15 years now... WOW), and I have to say that very few things have changed in terms of work techniques. The tools remain the same and so does the basic ideas. There are a few things which are great time savers (the linked parts and the fact that you can double click on an item, thus choosing the right tool straight away, as well as something close to the magnetic tool of Sibelius), but other than that I work pretty much the same way I worked 15 years ago!  (And I should confess that Finale 2009 (or 2010?) has parts of 16-bit code in it, which meant that it would NEVER see my 6 GBs or RAM and I had to manually remove the 4 in order for it to see the proper RAM and install! Funny stuff...)
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I've been using finale since about that time (which is almost 15 years now... WOW), and I have to say that very few things have changed in terms of work techniques.
Interesting. I just recall that my two friends found the program quite a challenge. The Mac user was transcribing some Beach Boys songs, the Windows user was a composition student. Full disclosure, I have not used Finale myself. During my uni years, I studied and composed a fair amount of church music for the Anglican rite (canticles, anthems, hymn descants, some psalm settings), but they were always done -horrors- the old fashioned way. Funny how it goes, though. After uni my muse (whoever she was) took a hike and I have written litterally nothing since then.
Jason
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I find Sibelius more user-friendly, although my very first program was Finale Notepad even before I had a real instrument!!
Music is my best friend.
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I'm a long time Finale user, but I'm ready to admit that I believe that Sibelius is more user friendly.
But I also think that finale, still has a few capabilities that sibelius doesn't have... Some things are very difficult to do (close to impossible) in Sibelius, while Finale has these things a bit easier.
The other thing that bugs me with Sibelius is that its SO user friendly that everything is ready made and most users go with the default options, which leaves quite a bit to be desired! And this also means that a lot of scores look alike in Sibelius. In Finale the beginning (if you go for the default doc) is SO crude that you are forced to work your way in the layout!
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I'm a Sibelius user and troubled by this news. I hadn't known of Daniel Spreadbury before, but it sounds like he really is the heart and soul of the project. Just started reading his tweets at @dspreadbury: Thanks to everybody who has expressed concern for me and my colleagues today. It means a lot! @Stonewing No divestment, but it is closing our office and moving development elsewhere. Future of everybody in our office is unclear. Guess this is real, huh :-/
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Joined: May 2007
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Hmm... I remember Finale 4.0 or something and then came Finale 98 which was pretty much like the current one! :P I've been using finale since about that time (which is almost 15 years now... WOW), and I have to say that very few things have changed in terms of work techniques. The tools remain the same and so does the basic ideas. There are a few things which are great time savers (the linked parts and the fact that you can double click on an item, thus choosing the right tool straight away, as well as something close to the magnetic tool of Sibelius), but other than that I work pretty much the same way I worked 15 years ago! Is now the time to confess I use Finale 3.0 ?
Du holde Kunst...
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I'm a long time Finale user, but I'm ready to admit that I believe that Sibelius is more user friendly. I'm a Finale user since version 3.1 (early 1990s) and I noticed incremental changes in Finale once Sibelius came on the scene.
The other thing that bugs me with Sibelius is that its SO user friendly that everything is ready made and most users go with the default options, which leaves quite a bit to be desired! And this also means that a lot of scores look alike in Sibelius. In Finale the beginning (if you go for the default doc) is SO crude that you are forced to work your way in the layout!
LOL! This is the biggest flaw in Finale (beware vent coming). You are SOOO right, there's no way to use the default layout, whether it's music spacing, page layout, collisions between objects, dynamics, articulations, phrasing,... the list is endless and all of it requires manual adjustment. If I wasn't already on Finale's upgrade train I would have switched to Sibelius years ago, especially if they've managed to take all that effort out of use of their product. Sadly, it sounds like Sibelius' default look is merely good and if Avid is moving development "in house" it'll never be great. Bummer!
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