Ok, I had a few beers with my colleagues, and after about an hour we realized what was going to happen next:
In about two years, Steinberg will fire the entire Dorico team. Makemusic as a company will take over this team. Daniel and his people will then have the chance to develop the truly final notation program. It will be called “Final FINALE ULTIMA 27 aka FFU27” and will leave everything else behind. Daniel will go down in history as the only developer who understood how to define the future of notation for all three main players in the notation sector. And because he managed to resist Tantacrul’s offer to use his skills for MuseScore.
Dorico users will receive a crossgrade offer to upgrade to FFU 27 for $149, and for former registered Finale users there will be a first-time “backgrade” to activate the new FFU27 for a small fee. The last working version of the ARIA player will also be installed. For an additional charge, there will be a special version that does not install the ARIA player (FFU27WOA).
Until this happens I will keep my Finale27 alive as long as the servers (and MakeMusic) are still running.
And I will immediately start working with Dorico in parallel.
I have changed my primary video editing suite, publication editor, DAW, and notation software (2x) and even OS. The world keeps turning, and I turn with it. As it happens, I’ve nearly always been contented with changing to something better, even if it took a while to learn it and become as fluid in the new as I was in the old.
In any event, I think that Daniel & co. will still be going down in history. (And tantacrul in infamy. )
We (or at least some of us) do enjoy our share of positive humor here — it’s part of the (unique) camaraderie in this forum. (Trolls and nattering nabobs, though, “need not apply.”)
As to your software “prediction,” clearly FFU27 actually arrived three years early.
)
I’m drunk 
—JK
