Charles,

Thank you for your speedy answer.

Stupid question: what's a virtual machine?

What about Linux is attracting your interest? If you're interested in using some particular software that is commonly found on Linux systems, it may also be available in Windows or Mac versions as well.

It's Windows I want to flee, and since I have absolutely no interest in Apple (never been a fan!) Linux was the alternative a tech-minded friend of mine mentioned. I'm gradually going off-grid, as it were.

Not for the faint of heart? If I get to learn how to talk to the computer properly (instead of point/click mouse work) I might be more eager to do this, not less.

The Finale problem, on the other hand, makes me (slightly) less interested.

As to knowing already, when one drinks enough foul water, one begins to take it as normal. If you've grown up on McDonalds and Burger King, the offer of filet mignon is (at first) off-putting. As people around here can attest, if you've grown up around Glory and Praise and altar girls and all that, the traditional form can seem overwhelmingly foreign at first (but one gets over that!)

You can install Linux alongside Windows on the same machine, and choose between them at boot up. So you could try out Linux that way (second step after chonak's first step).
[ADDED] Linux magazines still come with DVDs stuck on them (here at any rate), and these will usually "Live boot". That is they will offer you the option of trying the distro, the flavour of Linux on the DVD, without installing. When you have finished and taken the DVD out, the machine will be exactly as it was before. Of course since you only have access to the software on the DVD, it will be slower than installed software.

I am soon installing a new computer and Microsoft has ended support for my 2010 Office Suite. Chonak, I have started using those free apps and am debating whether to spend money on a new purchase of, or subscription to, the current version of Office. Those "freebies" seem to work fine.

I have not installed MS Office on either of my last two computers.

2) Are there any drawbacks to Linux, especially for those of us who miss MS-DOS prompts?

The command line is much more commonly used in Linux than Windows. But that is a sign of geeks at work!

For Linux users, it's my understanding that MuseScore is a pretty good alternative to Finale.

Chris, thank you for taking my comment with grace and in the spirit in which it was intended. I certainly don’t want to discourage you. The fact that it is an open platform is indeed a feather in its cap.

For Linux users, it's my understanding that MuseScore is a pretty good alternative to Finale.

I have both and after using MuseScore, I wonder why I spent the money on Finale.

But the free consumer level products are just as good as, say MS Office, and have been for most of this century.

Well, I specifically named Adobe products and their free and open-source counterparts, which I use because I can't justify the subscriptions, but they are decidedly inferior products even though one can get quite nice and pleasing results in such a way that one winds up learning the principles just as much as how to manipulate buttons.

But at what cost? It's true that the Adobe suite is expensive, but the learning curve for Scribus is also extraordinarily high. One might rightly say "why bother" even if they don't like Adobe, even if they support free and open-source software in lieu of InDesign and similar products, and so on.

Having only user support is not a plus; now, it's true that Microsoft and Apple farm a lot of support off to volunteers, but you're not necessarily totally on your own if the software doesn't run correctly. Also, if we do want to talk about LibreOffice, it does seem to be regularly maintained and updated, but they took two full years to go from version 6 to 7; in contrast, Scribus and GIMP aren't even onto version 3 after almost two decades and are either missing features or have made them mindbogglingly more complicated than their paid equivalents. Scribus for instance deals with kerning and tracking of letters in a very bizarre way, which makes it very hard to set type evenly across a whole line.

I use Windows 10 for my day job because my employer (a large university library) requires it. We also have dedicated IT staff.

At home, I have an HP laptop I bought back in 2008 or 2009. Two years ago the hard drive went bad, and I replaced it. However, Windows 7 was the latest version of Windows I could run on its hardware, and MS support for that version ceased in 2020. (I was told by techs that I could try Windows 8, but it would probably be s-l-o-w.) So, I partitioned the hard drive and loaded my old Windows OS on one partition, mainly so I can use (Finale (!), and loaded Linux Mint (Cinnamon) on the other partition for other applications. I use the LibreOffice applications for most of what I do (word processing, spreadsheets, database, etc.). I was really glad that Linux enabled me to continue using my old computer, since I didn't have the $$ right then to purchase a new one.

What others have said about Linux requiring more hands-on involvement is pretty true--it is much less out-of-the box than Windows. Nevertheless, I find it works fine for Word documents and spreadsheets, and I can open these files and edit them in either OS. The presentation programs are a different story. Although LibreOffice Impress (Linux) will let you open and edit a PowerPoint file, PowerPoint does not return the favor with slides created in Impress.

I have trouble running Zoom on my old machine, but I think that may due more to the old hardware than to Linux.

Francis,

Would you give a Stradivarius to a toddler?

Francis,

You asked if I would rather play the violin or build it. Lacking the skill to build it, I would rather have a skilled violinist play it rather than bring my meager talent to bear on it.

Stradivarius is probably a bad example, though, since I don't know if they are wildly overpriced -- as, I understand from many Apple enthusiasts, most Apple products are.

Chris:
You may find this informative:

https://cos.reisinformatica.com/blog/10-reasons-why-linux-is-better-than-macos-or-windows

Also this:

https://forum.makemusic.com/default.aspx?f=5&m=410894

It seems that if you are using third party VSTs with Finale, you may encounter problems.

I would suggest you download and install Linux Mint and the Linux Wine subsystem, and try to see if it will run your version of Finale properly. The Linux Mint Cinnamon desktop version resembles the Windows desktop the most, so you may want to install that one.

The best way to do this is to install on a spare hard drive. (I have a stack of them from upgrading my computers to SSDs). Otherwise you can install it to co-exist with your existing Windows system through dual boot. Here is a guide:

https://itsfoss.com/install-linux-mint/

Installing Linux Wine is more involved, and you will need to use the Linux terminal for this (similar to the Mac Console or Windows Command Prompt). Following these steps closely, you should have no problems:

https://linuxhint.com/installing_wine_linux_mint/

The only issue is whether you should install the 32 bit or 64 bit of this software. If you are running Windows 10 it is 64 bit, so install 64 bit Linux and Wine.

Good luck!

Like this?

I use a Windows computer at work (the programs our company uses are only available in a Windows version). At home, I use a Mac. If you buy a Windows machine, you will be replacing it 4-6 years down the road. If you buy a Mac, you will be replacing it 8-10 years down the road. Macs come with a word processor (Pages), a spreadsheet (Numbers), and a presentation application (Keynote) that can read and write Word, Excel, and PowerPoint files.

I find I update the Mac much less often than the Windows computer at work, and when Apple comes out with a major upgrade to its operating system, it is free.

Like Linux, Apple's MacOS, is Unix based.

@Ted - At least Apple doesn't completely change the way their programs work every few years. In 2006, Microsoft completely redid the Office interface and I'm still not used to the changes. IMHO, 'Logically ordered intuitive layout' is an oxymoron. To be proficient in Microsoft Office requires hundreds of hours and reference books that make the LU look normal-sized. To be proficient in the Mac equivalents require tens of hours and an online book of a few dozen pages.

People struggle with the unfamiliar. I use both and have no problem going back and forth. I do l like the reliability of the Mac, though. Although that comes from Apple controlling everything from production to software. Microsoft has to create an operating system that works with hundreds of computer manufacturers. Apple only has to create an operating system that works for products from one company (Apple).

Ted... You are on!

would you accept a challenge on right brain creativity (original music composition, web page design and marketing, advertising, print design, facebook ad, video and audio production) to be delivered in 40 hours working time?

@Liam

Mac, of course, is the Mega Church... everyone has it, it is slick, and appeals to the masses.

Being ecologically conscious, I prefer Windows OS to MacOS because Windows features a Recycle Bin instead of Apple's Trash Can. Just wanted to virtue signal here.

Recycle? Bhahahahahahaha!... I can barely recycle my laundry much less my trash.

bhcordova:
MS updates frequently Windows mostly because it has so many security attacks against it, being so widely used. It has to be constantly ahead of the clever hackers around the world. I cringe at what would happen if all these hackers decided to exploit Macs.
Before I got the Mac laptop I put in storage a couple years ago, I had obtained an older Mac laptop, only to find out its Mac OS was no longer upgradeable for that model about a year later, so I donated it away. I have upgraded not a few Intel and AMD laptops older than 10 years now adequately running Windows 10 by changing their clunker hard drives to SSDs, and if possible adding more RAM, giving the laptops a new life for another few years. I tried doing that to a Mac laptop and it took me half a day but finally only with hacking tools....not worth my time and effort. In short, Apple does not want its affluent client base to upgrade but to buy expensive new Apple equipment.
It is true that the Mac OS is founded on Linux. But then why buy expensive Apple equipment when you can run Linux itself on much cheaper and older machines? Owning something Apple, it seems, is still a status symbol. As a matter of fact there are several Linux desktops that can make a Linux machine into a lookalike Mac OS desktop if that is so important for the user (eg. Elementary OS, Backslash Linux, etc.). There was once a Pear OS that made Linux look and work almost identically to a Mac, but it was bought by a mysterious company and was quickly closed down. Having been mostly open source it has been resurrected now as the Pear OS 8. Incidentally, there are also hacks which can make a Windows desktop look more like a Mac. Android, also based on Linux, is at the tops now for OS market share, and there are even different versions of it for the PC.

My favourite for operability and functionality over the years, though, is still OS/2 Warp which at the time was way ahead of its competitors, and slick. With IBM's bungling and Bill Gates' cunning business tactics it has vanished, although there is a bit of a comeback for it as Arca OS 5, but it is only 32bit.

As for Microsoft Office, I do not use it but use instead LibreOffice. One of the factors to consider is that with the smaller user base for Macs, Microsoft is putting in less investment in the Mac version. Already, the Mac Office 365 version is lacking in a lot of features that the Windows version has. Adding features usually mean a change in approach for the user to using it. I wonder how long Microsoft can continue supporting its Office for Mac with a constantly falling market share, and should probably turn its attention more to its Android version.

Francis:
It is not only about saving time, but about producing quality work from ideas that need to be developed first. I am not asking Mac users to switch to Windows or Linux. If one is happy with what one has, then there is no need to change. So if you like what you have and find it adequate, keep going.

The original question was whether it was possible to run Finale on Linux for whatever reason. And I found that yes it may be possible with the Windows version, but I have not investigated running Finale for Mac on Linux.

As for myself I have several Windows and Linux machines running, and a Mac in storage because I have no use for it. Because I do a lot of video production and post production, including sound editing, I need to use the Windows machines whose hardware I have optimised for this purpose, something difficult to do with a Mac, by the way. I have found that the high end AMD CPUs (Ryzen 7) are very good for this (they are basically for gamers) and you only have Macs based on Intel CPUs and limited hardware expandability (I use high end AMD/ATI video graphics cards with lots of memory and large capacity nvme SSD hard drives that connect directly to the PCIe bus accessed by the CPU). Also, there are no Mac or Linux versions of VMix and Vegas Pro both professional video tools which I use constantly. At one point I used to use Adobe's Premier, which I am told, by the way, runs faster on Windows than on the Mac, but not anymore since I found the original Sony Vegas more flexible and intuitive and can work with 4k videos.

My favourite for operability and functionality over the years, though, is still OS/2 Warp which at the time was way ahead of its competitors, and slick. With IBM's bungling and Bill Gates' cunning business tactics it has vanished, although there is a bit of a comeback for it as Arca OS 5, but it is only 32bit.

Ted, my favorite was Commodore DOS.

CharlesW - Was that an Apple II salesman?

I was working at a non-profit in the late 90s where somebody donated what had been when new a very nice DOS machine with a hard drive! that had "all the storage you would ever need" per the accompanying materials. Its size: 10 MB. We laughed even then.