[bmj]

The difference between "editor wars" and a new musical notation is that choosing a particular editor does not limit you in reading or writing things that people have already done. If I learn to read music via new notation, that's great, but I'll still have to learn traditional notation if I want to play a piece by Chopin (assuming someone hasn't "translated" it to the new notation). If I use vim, I can still read a program written in emacs. Editing it may be a different process, but consuming it isn't.

[wam]

That's true, but the comparison I'm getting at is the learning curve. The process of consuming an algorithm or procedure is more of a tabs-vs-semicolons thing, a language war.

I mention editors because the arguments about learning one often have to do with the trade-off between expert efficiency and expressiveness and the painful learning curve (for many). And because that's honestly what the discussion reminds me of, whether or not it's a perfect match :)

[PeterisP]

Why can't notation be shown "on the fly"?

I mean, any notation editor knows the pitches/timing/etc encoded in the score, and it should be able to trivially show it to the musician in a customized way - transposed to the instrument, if neccessary; with or without fingering information where applicable; and in custom/wierd notations like this one.

Of course, printed/photocopied scores can't do that, but we're not in stone&paper age anymore and can fix things to improve functionality.