I kinda find it really weird that they went from a yearly fee to a monthly one and then back to a one time one.
I'm still of mixed opinion with the many updates, but on the whole Sonar and Cakewalk treat me well.

personally, I think it is absolutely unnecessary- I think some folk have been disrespectful in their postings, and that such disrespect should be ignored.
In my job, I definitely do my best.  I would find it highly insulting if my boss question that effort as a matter of course/without cause. Thus far CW has been more than fair in delivering an improving evolving product- it is unjustified, unfair and simply wrong to accuse all the hard working folks behind the scenes of anything less than their best. In my opinion, this open letter is a wincing acknowledgement of those insults and indeed serves to empower and energize those persons.
Let the work of the Bakers stand for itself- there is nothing to answer for.

To me, the elephant in the room is support.
 

a responsive feedback portal on its way

 
I'll be interested to see what this is.
 

there’s no better way to succeed than by having happy customers

 
I'm not happy. The new support system stinks. I've been waiting 2 weeks on a response to a technical support email request (case 318573), and a week for activation support (case 319049). I've read a number of posts here where support requests have gone into a black hole. It's concerning to me that Cakewalk hasn't addressed this.
 
Cakewalk needs to beef up support ASAP.

telecharge
To me, the elephant in the room is support.
 

a responsive feedback portal on its way

 
I'll be interested to see what this is.
 

there’s no better way to succeed than by having happy customers

 
I'm not happy. The new support system stinks. I've been waiting 2 weeks on a response to a technical support email request (case 318573), and a week for activation support (case 319049). I've read a number of posts here where support requests have gone into a black hole. It's concerning to me that Cakewalk hasn't addressed this.
 
Cakewalk needs to beef up support ASAP.

FWIW - I attempted to address this here http://forum.cakewalk.com/Cakewalk-Support-Update-m3428520.aspx but it seems to keep getting missed.
 
I'm not sure what more I can add that I didn't state in the thread other than acknowledging its still a huge priority for the support team here and we're doing everything we can to turn it around as fast as possible.

And so it goes.

Sanderxpander
I kinda find it really weird that they went from a yearly fee to a monthly one and then back to a one time one.
I'm still of mixed opinion with the many updates, but on the whole Sonar and Cakewalk treat me well.

While I agree there have been a number of changes in the last couple of years, and that has obvously been a source of confusion, it's also been entirely possible to bypass them and proceed as we more or less always were, paying about $100 a year (I actually paid a little less than that, buying from a reseller) and ignoring the monthly option. Because that's what it was, an option, like the lifetime membership is now an option.  So while that's a lot of options and could be confusing, it's also a lot of options to suit a variety of users' interests and needs. That's a good thing, isn't it?

That's what I did too, which is why I find the whole construction a bit funny. I'll probably end up paying for some add on next year and so everything kind of continues like it did before, just with different titles for each purchase. Not a complaint, really, just an observation.

Ryan Munnis [Cakewalk
FWIW - I attempted to address this here http://forum.cakewalk.com/Cakewalk-Support-Update-m3428520.aspx but it seems to keep getting missed.
 
I'm not sure what more I can add that I didn't state in the thread other than acknowledging its still a huge priority for the support team here and we're doing everything we can to turn it around as fast as possible.

Thanks for the reply, Ryan. I had read your post and appreciate it. You posted around the same time I submitted my request, so I've been waiting to see how things shake out. Perhaps my expectations are too high, but I'm not seeing any improvement. I mean, how many weeks should one have to wait? I understand that support gets swamped whenever there is a major product announcement, but something has to give. Every time (with one exception) I have checked for a phone support slot I get, "Oh no! All of our agents are booked! We're sorry about that! We'll do our best to get more times available for scheduling calls as soon as possible. Please check back soon. " -- today included.
 
I am, in no way, trying to insult anyone providing support for Cakewalk. I'm sure they're all working hard. I said before that I was not happy. Well, I'm not unhappy...I'm just disappointed.

telecharge

Ryan Munnis [Cakewalk
FWIW - I attempted to address this here http://forum.cakewalk.com/Cakewalk-Support-Update-m3428520.aspx but it seems to keep getting missed.
 
I'm not sure what more I can add that I didn't state in the thread other than acknowledging its still a huge priority for the support team here and we're doing everything we can to turn it around as fast as possible.

Thanks for the reply, Ryan. I had read your post and appreciate it. You posted around the same time I submitted my request, so I've been waiting to see how things shake out. Perhaps my expectations are too high, but I'm not seeing any improvement. I mean, how many weeks should one have to wait? I understand that support gets swamped whenever there is a major product announcement, but something has to give. Every time (with one exception) I have checked for a phone support slot I get, "Oh no! All of our agents are booked! We're sorry about that! We'll do our best to get more times available for scheduling calls as soon as possible. Please check back soon. " -- today included.
 
I am, in no way, trying to insult anyone providing support for Cakewalk. I'm sure they're all working hard. I said before that I was not happy. Well, I'm not unhappy...I'm just disappointed.

Yeah, I hear you. Definitely no argument from me here. I felt like I had to chime in since the elephant in the room idiom was sort of suggesting we're not talking about it, but that's not exactly accurate.  :)
 
There's a pretty big backlog, and the training process with getting new people up to speed is a bit steep unfortunately. I'll keep poking the bears here. Your current disappointment is definitely warranted and I hope we can turn it around soon for you. 

Thank you Noel for the straight up article.