Jesse, I generally agree with the sentiment, except one glaring perspective. As a good old fashioned red blooded ignorant American, capitalism is a good thing, and with capitalism comes competition. Right now, there isnt another product on the market that does what Ensemble does as a whole. There are programs that do bits and pieces of what Ensemble does, sure, but not as an entire package. If Vienna had some competition with respect to Ensemble, it would be a positive thing. Competition drives competitive pricing and an improved featureset.
Also, it is not the customers job to keep Vienna in business. If Vienna makes a product that is wanted / needed in the market place, people will buy it.
I guess lastly, I am no fanboy of Vienna. I love their products but they are very pricey, depending on what you are looking for. You must admit that for users of a dozen licenses for Ensemble, that is a hard pill to swallow, although, depending on country of origin, in the states, this purchase is a complete tax write-off so, while it will hurt initially, next year, it will come back (sorry non-Americans :( ). Also, Id have to go back and re-read your post to remember why I wanted to mention the licensing dongle and more importantly, the fact that users have to pay to have licenses backed up / restored. As I recall, it had something to do with a comment you made about Vienna making it as easy as possible, and that isnt exactly the case.
That being said, I am looking forward to playing with Ensemble 7, it sounds like it will come out right around the end of my school semester and we are going into summer break, so Ill have some time to dig into it. Im taking music classes this summer, taking a break from Physics, Math, and Chemistry until August, which will give me time to really write some music.
