Hi Everyone,

It is correct that there were some issues with the installers for the demo versions of v27 for Mac (unintended v26 file deletion, as stated here) and Windows (an incorrect trial timer was installed). This was an oversight on our part and these issues have been resolved. The hotfixes were released yesterday and can downloaded from the trial download location here.  

If anyone has any other issues or concerns with this, please feel free to reach out to us directly with the Submit a Request options above. We can certainly take a closer look at these and discuss in further detail. 

Thanks, Ben. I ran into this yesterday. Good to know I didn’t do anything wrong!

Before reinstalling F26, should I do any renaming? Or will just the reinstall keep things correct?

No, don't rename anything. I just restored the whole app from my backup.

No, Mike,: the Demo is called "Finale Demo.app". Finale 26 is called "Finale.app".  Each version of Finale has always been completely separate.

In fact the script does check whether it's the Demo:

#Is this the demo?
$ISDEMO = 1;

But it fails to test that for the deletion bit.

Finale has always installed new versions, even demos, as separate apps, with separate support files and separate pref files. You have always been able to have multiple versions installed at the same time, in entirely separate and independent states of authorisation.

This demo installs itself entirely separately from v26, but for some reason chooses to delete some critical components of v26. 

The Demo does not deauthorise v26, or completely prevent it from working, so if that's the intention, it's failed. 

My problem is that users should be warned about destructive change of this sort much more clearly before they commit to the install, if it's deliberate. But it's much more likely to be an error caused by the different naming strategy for the Demo and the Purchase. Weirdly, you can authorise the demo installation, so who knows what happens to the naming then.

Anyway, I have contacted MM directly, who will no doubt clarify whether this is intentional mangling or accidental fowl-up.

I have not experienced this on Windows. What I have experienced, though, is that the demo installs with an expired trial period. I've had the same thing happen on different computers. Tried a reinstall and still installs with an expired trial period. Everything else seems to be fine.

Other people have reported that, too. I suspect we'll see a "Hot Fix" update.

It appears that the expired trial period is a Windows issue, and the deletion of files, Mac.

At least, they're being fair.

But I clicked "No, don't remove 26." Where's the notice saying "you can keep it, but we'll partially delete some random functions."...?

Does the purchased version of 27 affect the installation v26?  If not, then why should the demo do so? 

It seems odd to slightly damage v26 but not completely do so, when they could just de-authorise v26. Though again, that would be a strange punishment to customers who paid for 26 just for installing a demo.

You can restore the functionality in 26 by reinstalling it -- and that has no bearing of the Demo, which continues to work as before. Would that be a 'bug', according to your proposed model?

I know you're always determined to pick a fight whenever I suggest something, but it makes no sense for MM to do this intentionally.

I have to go with Ben on this one. It's a mistake, intentional or not. And I say that as someone who discovered the XML problem after installing the demo and telling it to leave F26 alone. Yes, a reinstall fixed it, but it should NOT have been necessary.

Finale 25 is listed as Finale25 in my applications folder. Finale 26 is just Finale. And the demo of F27 is just Finale Demo. The only visible difference is the icon. And I'm afraid that if I change the name to Finale26, all of the paths and keyboard shortcuts will stop working.

If MM suddenly changed their practice, and decided to remove some but not all functionality from a purchased app, just because you've also got a demo app installed (despite of the authorisation status of each app handling this perfectly anyway), then at the very least, they should have said something.

Such a change would only be meaningful if some other aspect of the authorisation/licensing had changed, but again, no such change has been mentioned or is evident. As already said: each version can be licensed separately, so what's the point of suddenly making them 'mutually exclusive'? 

Also, if this is intended, what happens at the end of the 30-day Demo period? You're left with 2 broken apps?

I haven't taken sides... frankly, I don't care much one way or the other.

 

Clearly. Why don't we just wait for MM's response. 

It is, however, pretty rude of tech support not to have acknowledged this and other known problems with 27. Or are we meant to believe that every one of them has been chained to their computers, working 24/7, slugging down pizza and Red Bull, to come up with a fix?

Thanks, David, for confirming the problem and announcing the hot fix. 

Thanks, David.

>And of course, it doesn't check whether it's running the Demo before deleting these files. <

You make that sound like a bad thing. If 27 is to be fully functional in demo mode, it all looks right. Reinstalling 26 should fix it up by overwriting 27 since it is now called Finale.app.

A number of apps do this. It’s nothing unusual. You can have both Digital Performer 9.x or 10 installed but only the one you installed last will be fully functional. If you don’t like the 10 demo, 9.5 must be reinstalled for it to work and then you cripple 10. At some time, you commit.

>No, don't rename anything. I just restored the whole app from my backup.<

And now you have two apps named Finale.app? Have fun with that.

You can restore from Time Machine easily enough but you might want to rename the new app Finale27 first. If you want to rename both apps after the restore, go ahead.

Ordinarily, I’d do this myself to see what gets screwed up in the process but I am way too busy these next three days. Again, have fun.

Ah… I did not download the demo. Knowing I would be upgrading anyway, I went straight to purchase.

$ISDEMO = 1;

But it fails to test that for the deletion bit.

 

So what?

 

You wrote the following:

 WARNING: File damage to Finale 26 when 27 DEMO is installed (Mac)

More accurate:

WARNING: 27 DEMO behaves like many other app upgrades (Mac)

and I gave an example—BTW, with DP, it doesn't matter whether demo or not. Likewise with Finale if you decide not to upgrade. Reinstall 26.

I'm not understanding why you think this is a problem.

Like issues with installing 26 over 25 (how soon we forget)? This caused a lot of problems as any trip through the backlogs of this board will remind us.

If you have Finale v25 on your computer, the installer will offer to remove it

Finale has always installed new versions, even demos, as separate apps, with separate support files and separate pref files. You have always been able to have multiple versions installed at the same time, in entirely separate and independent states of authorisation.

 

But they're not doing that this time. Finale is not alone in this.

Other people have reported that, too. I suspect we'll see a "Hot Fix" update

For the Windows issue, I expect that we will. For the Mac, I'm pretty sure that this is intentional. Besides Ben's disapproval, I see nothing wrong here.

> Yes, a reinstall fixed it, but it should NOT have been necessary.<

But that, like Ben's is an opinion. I haven't taken sides but I sort of agree with leaving it alone in the Demo—frankly, I don't care much one way or the other. All I have done is point out that the change had to have been done on purpose and many other app developers do this and have for years.

When you purchase, you'll download a different installer package that also has the new Garritan sounds (same as every version since 2012). Upon installing, you'll have Finale.app and Finale26.app. This is what I did.

Since you download a new installer anyway, perhaps that's when those scripts should have been run. 26 is still fully functional on my iMac including xml export with one difference: The print to pdf in 26 now follows 27 which is an improvement.

deleteFileOrDirAtPath_( "/Applications/Finale.app/Contents/Resources/FinCocoaPrintController.nib" );
deleteFileOrDirAtPath_( "/Applications/Finale.app/Contents/Resources/FinCocoaPrintingPartSelectionController.nib" );

I'm wondering if the Win users are not given the correct package to download upon purchase. If so, that's the issue that MM has to fix ASAP. I gave away my last Windows computer a couple months ago so I can't test this..

>Also, if this is intended, what happens at the end of the 30-day Demo period? You're left with 2 broken apps?<

Really? You should know better than such nonsense. An expired demo breaks on its own by design. If you purchase 27, both apps work fine as I have already verified.

Otherwise, both MikeR and I answered that. You reinstall 26—just as you do any other app that behaves this way. Next.

>Clearly. Why don't we just wait for MM's response.<

We'll see. I explained what they did. Why they did this isn't important to me so wait if you like.

You clearly have an agenda, Carry on, I suppose. 

What problem? It was a deliberate change—that code didn’t generate itself and someone signed off on the release. Now it is being walked back. Since it was sprung unexpectedly and without explanation, probably for the best. 

Not involving a lot of the regular beta testers was probably not a good idea. I had a long, detailed talk with someone last year about 27. As far as I can tell, no one paid attention to me either.