With Finale also in tatters, Notion really leaving a great lot to be desired for proper symphonic scores, LilyPond cumbersome, and most every other company barely able to accomodate the confounding complexity of a Hans Zimmer cue, I tell you VSL, NOW's the time to get into the game.

Who else is going to absorb all those hundreds of thousands of desperate users?... Lots of moneyyyy!.... Don't forget. Maybe after Finale goes (that's not a wish), over a million users who DON'T compose on the piano roll (or by importing others' loops and Scorephobia cues) are going to scavenge for a professional, no half-arsed, notation solution. Be there first, and with the advantage of seamless VI-MIR integration you can really charge for the privilege. No House-Styles, no setting up. It will be so worth it!

[Just get a Mac developer who can help you with aesthetics, and only then translate for P.C.] [:O]

 Is Finale doing poorly also?  I hadn't heard that. 

@William said:

 Is Finale doing poorly also?  I hadn't heard that. 

Errikos is correct, Makemusic is in play.

While in a much sexier scenario than Sibelius, Makemusic has been hemorrhaging cash for a few years.

They do have a buyout offer on the table from a private equity firm.

The firm already owns 28% of Makemusic stock and has access to the books.

The question is, is the buyout a Venture or Vulture Capitol play.

If Venture, Finale could be around for many years.

If Vulture, Makemusic and Finale will eventually fail.

A new version of Sibelus has been confirmed by AVID for 2013. The new head of the development team is someone in the US. We'll see how that develops.

Where did you see that Dave? 2013 is quite soon for a new version, and it would be interesting to see whether AVID is serious about the software, or whether it's seeking to squeeze every last dollar drop out of already available development from the previous team.

From Daniel Spreadbury;

"Thanks for all the kind words, everybody. Just to clarify a concern raised by Monty Beaumont early in this thread: although Sibelius 7.1.3 is the last update that will be produced by the original Sibelius development team (or at least the four developers from that team who are still with Avid at the time of writing), you don't need to worry that this is the end of the road for Sibelius. Avid is in the process of building a new development team that will be responsible for the future development of the software, and the company has already publicly committed to a new release of Sibelius next year. So you can look forward to that.

As for me personally, I will be leaving at the end of October when the last of my colleagues from the original team leave. After 13 and a half years, I will be looking for a clean break, and I won't be posting here any longer, or maintaining the Sibelius blog, after I go.

My friend and colleague Sam Butler, who is the leader of the Sibelius technical support team here in Europe and who has been with us for many years, will start to pop up more here on the forum over the next few weeks and will maintain the company's presence here, so that you can be sure that your posts will still be read by somebody from the company (though like me he cannot commit to answering every single thread). Those of you who have been lucky enough to speak to Sam on the phone or have your emails answered by him will know that he is a true expert with the software, and very friendly to boot. "

@DaveTubaKing said:

A new version of Sibelus has been confirmed by AVID for 2013. The new head of the development team is someone in the US. We'll see how that develops.

Unfortunately Booby Lombardi talks like a corporate mouthpiece, so I don't have high hopes that he is really up to the job. I hope to be proved wrong though.

DG

It looks like several of the now former Sibelius folks, including Daniel, are now working for Steinberg. I wonder what this could mean?

http://www.steinberg.net/en/company/press/archive/2012/uk_rd_center.html

There's Hope.  Steinberg just announced the opening of a new R&D Center in London.  The announcement states that the new UK office team is a group of highly skilled developers and product specialist who will be focusing on developing software for the music notation and education markets.  If I had to guess......... 

You don't have to guess. Steinberg has actually shown some sense, for once.  [:D]

DG

I know, I was just saying.  When I read the announcement I thought yes, Avid has the code to Sibelius but that's just code.  It is the experienced development team that has the real value in my opinion.  That's something you just can't replace.  I believe great things are ahead for Steinberg in the area of scoring and education.