fight for sibelius

I'm sure you've heard the recent news, but if not, I'll be brief: according to Norman Lebrecht at ArtsJournal, Avid Technology, Inc. planned to shut down Sibelius's UK headquarters, composers panicked (I tried not to), the Finn twins (who invented the software) tried to buy back their company but were rebuffed (this was fishy and then I was starting to panic), and yesterday, the UK office officially shut down, leaving Daniel Spreadbury et al. up a creek.

Now I'm panicking.

I'm not merely panicking for myself and other Sibelius users who use this tool every day to compose and self-publish their scores. No. I'm panicking for all composers, arrangers, educators, students, and everyone in between who are dependent on any notation program.

This is not a debate about which notation software is superior. Both Finale and Sibelius are fine notation programs, but if one didn't exist, both programs would not be the superior product it is today.

I have joked in the past that choosing between Sibeliu…