Below is a quote from another users post that Steinberg/Dorico team appeared to ignore, so I have re-posted it as I (and I’m sure many users) would like to hear their responce -So Steinberg please reply -
My biggest fear, is that one year from today, still lacking many feature, Steinberg will announce Dorico 2.0 that will force us to pay again. So yes, I know free updates were promised, but for how long, and to what extent. No one knows. Will version 1.x (even with some features lacking) ever be usable or would we have to buy 2.0 in a year? How long will these free updates be coming? What is the (estimated) full list of features expected to be integrated for free? (I know, I know about the chord symbols, but what else?).
I am happy to make this investment as a benefactor, and a crowd-funder, but I wonder if I’ll ever get my money’s worth.
Prior to buying I knew many features will be missing, but the list turned out to be longer than I could imagine, and frankly even if all the features were there, with Dorico’s horrifying responsiveness, no number of features would make it usable.
I did read the reply Ben, but you did not answer the question the forum user asked, it is about the versions and how long will the updates be free? I can fully understand the worries of theirs person and I share his concerns.
I to have a feeling that this current version will be put to one side and some new features will be added (which should be in the current version) debated as v2.0 and we will be charged even more…
This is what we been answering.
And this goes unanswered (kind of speaks volumes)
Andy, give them a second 
Goes unanswered? You gave him an hour on a Saturday morning at the end of what must have been a knackering week. If you get a reply at all before Monday that should be a bonus. Or do you think he has so little going on in his life that he’s sitting at his computer screen, looking at your message but not answering it to spite you?
Probably busy counting all the money they made…
Let’s be fair - so far the have “lost” a lot more money on this than they have made. I trust that Dorico will become great for several reasons, and the fact that they have invested so much time/money on Dorico already is one of these reasons.
Hi,
I’ve replied to the original thread as well, but please let me assure you that we are primarily interested in quickly getting to a position where we are delighting customers who are enjoying the world’s best notation software. We’re definitely not trying to dupe anyone into making a purchase now that will only be useful if they make further purchases in a year or two’s times. We’ve been completely up front about what’s in and what’s out of Dorico 1.0 and continue to assure our customers about how we will fill any gaps.
I am certain that if you had a glimpse into a working day at Dorico HQ you would see that the current version is absolutely not being put to one side while we debate what features we can put into a paid 2.0 update.
Do keep giving us feedback on what’s good and what’s not for you, but please give us the opportunity to show you how we intend to keep our promises. Above all, we just want you to enjoy using Dorico.
Many thanks,
Anthony
[Anthony got there before me, but here’s my reply for completeness]
I’ll reiterate what’s already been said on several of these threads. We have made it very clear that version 1 of Dorico will not contain all the features that other scoring applications already have and some of the features we did include have some rough edges.
We’ve made a commitment to provide free updates for the list of features that didn’t quite make it into the first release. We don’t know how long that will take yet as we’re gathering data on your experience with the current features and will undoubtedly have some work to do on fixing bugs and improving the performance.
The updates will remain free until we’ve made good on that commitment. There is no agreed timescale for this at the moment.
May I issue a gentle reminder that this forum exists for users to provide help to each other, for us to provide help to you, and for you to provide help to us in identifying how we can improve Dorico together. Let’s try and keep it constructive.
Thanks for the reply Anthony & Ben.
Ben you say “let’s try and keep it constructive”, I believe this is, as £450 is a lot of money for software that is not working properly, and to add yet another car related quote, how would you feel if you bought a new car at full price but had to keep your old one to drive around?.
I really hope you guys do keep your promise and don’t suddenly launch v2.0 in twelve months time expecting us to pay for the upgrade and features we should already have.
I have been a Cubase user for years & years way back when I needed an Atari to run it - but it was never sold in such an unfinished state as Dorico has been. I was, and still am I guess, very excited about Dorico but I don’t think you have done yourselfs or your customers any favours by releasing it in this state, im sure that Avid and the developers of Finale are loving you for this though.
So come on, prove me wrong…please.
I followed the Making Notes blog since it started, and also the posts on this forum, and I think the developers have done a good job setting accurate expectations about the first release, for those who have followed the blog, this forum, and various other online discussions.
On the other hand, there are people who have already created full orchestra scores in Dorico.
As a long time Cubase user, you would know that Steinberg releases demo versions a bit after the commercial release, the purpose of which is to give people a chance to try it out. A common refrain in this software forum and others, for good reason, is that for people who have low tolerance for the foibles of version 1.0 software should wait for the demo.
I do not think that the MakeMusic or Avid staff are happy about the state of Dorico, they understand quite well how much time it takes to design software from scratch. It’s more likely that they see that in the long term, this modern application has fewer impediments to its growth than do theirs, due to the fact that it’s new.
Finally, for those who have activated their license, but are unhappy and don’t want to wait, Steinberg makes it easy to sell your license.
Excellent. Where can I find this list? I would be much more inclined to buy 1.0 if I knew what that committed list includes.
Here is the post with the list
At the bottom of this page there is a “Complete Feature List”
and under that list:
- Please note that the list of features that will be added in free updates to Dorico is subject to change.
I doubt that they’ve actually made very much
+1
and elementary features like transpose or real-time note input are not in this list.Can it be?
Touché
I view it like a Kickstarter investment, but this is one where we get to use the product before it is finished. I have owned and used both Finale and Sibelius. I was about to upgrade Sibelius in 2012 when they laid off their development team, so I waited and watched. Sibelius struggled for a long time and I lost faith. Like so many people who are here, I have waited years while Steinberg invested a huge sum of money and a lot of time to make Dorico happen. My patience paid off, and now Dorico is here for me.
I don’t trust Sibelius/Avid, and disliked the Finale user interface. I am willing to bet my money on Steinberg and Dorico. Sure, you can consider it a gamble, but the Dorico team has demonstrated that they are focused on quality first, and clearly they have learned many lessons from their experience at Sibelius. Sure, they have far to go, and I suspect that they need funding now, not later. I consider my purchase to be an investment, because I believe that the seed money that I give them now through my Dorico purchase will help it become the product that I can use to leave my compositions to posterity.
Sibelius and Finale marketing will jump all over each other to compare themselves feature for feature with Dorico in the short term, but they will be missing the point. If I am right, then Dorico will eventually overtake them in usability and quality. When you look at the final scores, Dorico will win.
Yeah, pun intended.