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Topic: Support??? (Read 7653 times) previous topic - next topic

Support???

What happened to support?

I have used this software since 2006 - and upgraded later, with v.2.75 as the latest. I have both the status key and the order ID. 

Recently, I had to do a clean install of Windows 10, with the result that I lost all previously installed software.

I have tried to contact sales and support by email (first time, on August 30) for information about download for reinstalling on the same computer, but have not received any response.

Anyone able to help?

Re: Support???

Reply #1 –
This adds to my concern, fueled also by the exceptionally long time since the last update and the virtual disappearance of NoteWorthy Online from this forum, that NWC is rapidly becoming abandonware. Say it ain't so, Eric....Please?

Re: Support???

Reply #2 –
I think this is a very important discussion!!

I have years of scores invested in NWC. What would happen if it is abandoned?

Would the website become inactive and would we have to start up a new support forum?

Would the very clever users continue to develop tools and objects?

Re: Support???

Reply #3 –
Absolutely.
I have used NWC for many years now, but have had that same sense of "abandonware" dread for quite some time now.
I come here frequently - largely checking to see if there are any updates / new releases being announced. Sadly, I have been disappointed in that quest.

Re: Support???

Reply #4 –
The noteworthysoftware.com site is paid for through March of 2022.  After that ?!?!?  Is the company for sale?
Since 1998

Re: Support???

Reply #5 –
Quote from: Warren Porter –
The noteworthysoftware.com site is paid for through March of 2022.  After that ?!?!?  Is the company for sale?
You'll probably find that's just the expiry of the current registration - they're not perpetual and renewals are usually sent out about 3 months prior to expiry.
I plays 'Bones, crumpets, coronets, floosgals, youfonymums 'n tubies.

Re: Support???

Reply #6 –
Let my state a different (opposite?) view regarding updates: I am very happy with a product which needs no changes. I think that it is very wrong to expect that a software is updated often.

Working as a software architect on a large product which is now about 15 years old, I am very sure that "calming down" change rates to near zero is of benefit to all - developers as well as users; with the exception of urgently required changes, e.g. because of new laws (like the GDPR). Of course, if a software wants to gain market share in a competitive environment, it will have to adapt to that environment, and that will often mean that new features are needed to market the product and make it attractive for new users. But this is, on the whole, detrimental to software development and to most existing users.

Nobody expects an existing refrigerator, heating appliance, car, or piano to acquire new features over its lifetime. The only thing we expect is that is continues to function - but Microsoft, on the whole, has (nowadays) a quite good track record of keeping older software runnable on newer Windowses. I have written (Java) software 15 years ago which I stopped supporting about 8 years ago - it is still running at a few locations, and no-one is complaining.

In my, maybe very personal, opinion, software providers have conditioned their users over the last decades that software (and hardware, like smartphones) must always evolve. But I do not and cannot see that as a value - at most, it might be a necessity, but quite often, it's just a nuisance.

Since 2.75a, I think NWC is a perfect small tool. Yes, it has problems and missing features. But having written 1000s of scores with it, some for orchestras with more than 20 voices; many for crank organs which need a precise control of the paper punching machine; many for our choir which required a good layout; and, last but not least, quite a few experimental ones for the plugins I wanted to try out, I must say that all other score editors are not better, mostly much harder to use, much more expensive, and much harder to script - I am very satisfied and maybe even feel cozy with many of the small hiccups ... it's like a personal friend.

No, I am not waiting for anything new.

... regarding support: Yes, it is important that questions are answered. Right now, this seems to work more or less ok because some "Virtuosos" here find some time to keep the community running. As I have stated elsewhere, I plan to write a "book" or something like that to explain what can be done, and how, with NWC - but this will take years (1 or 2, hopefully). Even if no-one changes a bit on the software, I'll still try to do this - for my own benefit, if nothing else. So I'd hope that some sort of support will always be there.

The only sort of support we cannot provide is working licensing - I had to renew my license once, and a friend of mine wanted to buy an NWC copy. This is something which needs to be guaranteed over some more years or, rather, decades. Can we trust this will work?

H.M.

Re: Support???

Reply #7 –
Quote from: hmmueller –
I am very happy with a product which needs no changes. I think that it is very wrong to expect that a software is updated often.

I fully agree. I also agree that, for my purposes, NWC is the best thing out there. I've been fooling around with MuseScore, and while it is very powerful and makes nice-looking scores, the UI is awful - NWC's is much better, and NWC is also very powerful and makes nice-looking scores. I have friends, too, who sing the praises of Dorico. Most of those praises have to do with the way the interface improves upon Finale and Sibelius, including - wait for it! - an insert mode! Which I always have to point out that NWC has had for many, many years. At $50 instead of $600.

However, NWC is not a "product that needs no changes." It still has flaws, some of them fairly serious, and while many of these have been taken care of by user objects, and I have yet to meet anything that can't be worked around in some manner, it would be easier for me to sell it in places like the Music Engraver's Page on Facebook - I mentioned it there just today - if the more glaring of these flaws were addressed by changes to the program. Pedal lines, 8va lines and cue staves should be native, to name three commonly-used notations that are currently taken care of by user objects, with varying degrees of ease and accuracy. n-tuplets would be nice. The collisions that take place between dynamics and hairpins are annoying, and the beam anti-aliasing is lumpy compared to the competition, making scores look less professional than they might. I could go on, but you get the idea. It is really time to address some of this stuff.

Mind you, I'm not planning to switch to Dorico, or even MuseScore, any time soon. I love NWC and will undoubtedly stick with it until it dies or I do. It's just that it could be significantly better. Facebook's MEP (Music Engravers Page) is pretty heavily used. Someone did a survey there recently to find out what software was currently in use by regular posters. Probably 50 of us responded. I was the only NWC user. That number could be much higher if some of the product's current shortcomings were taken care of. I'm tired of Dorico users trying to sell me on their baby. I'd love it if I could sell them on mine.

Re: Support???

Reply #8 –
I agree with all you say.

Still, (a) it is not my job, and no longer my wish, to "sell" NWC. Even when I write my promised documentation, I'll do that for those that are interested - me, as an example. I will not promote it - I have more interesting things to do. So, I let other people use whatever they want to use ...

And (b), even though NWC is missing a host of features - see your remarks, but also some postings by me -, I do not wait for them to be solved. Summing up, I fear that it would take about a year to add everything we all are waiting for; which would cost on the order of $50000 or more, or 1000 additional licenses. And the modern trend=expectation of new users to integrate (better and better) sound production in notation editors does not help with keeping the costs down; so I don't hold my breath.

H.M.

Re: Support???

Reply #9 –
It appears that the NoteWorthy Composer Facebook page is still active, so I wouldn't be too worried about the program disappearing just yet. I would hope that Eric would open source NoteWorthy Composer when if he ever lost interest in it. There seem to be a few of us that can program, and we could help the program limp along as new Windows versions require changes.
Sincerely,
Francis Beaumier
Green Bay, WI

Re: Support???

Reply #10 –
I will admit NWC is a stable product right now, but occasionally the forum needs moderating.

If users are going to be doing the programming, objects, and scripts, some more documentation would be helpful.
Since 1998

Re: Support???

Reply #11 –
Call it stable!  ;D