I think the new Start Screen is a good/solid addition to Sonar Platinum.
 
Aesthetic and Organizational enhancements may not seem too exciting on the surface, but they make day-to-day use a more pleasant experience.
Having immediate access to common Templates, Recent Projects, Program Updates/Info, etc (pin-able) is quick/convenient.  I think the Start Screen looks sharp.  
 
Cubase 8, Studio One v3, etc have similar Start Screens... for similar reasons.
 
Development of newer versions is a delicate balance of fixing bugs, adding new features, and trying to make the overall application as appealing as possible (all without breaking anything).
 
There's always room for improvement, but thus far... I'm very pleased with Sonar Platinum.
It was a solid initial release... and we're seeing significant new features added each month.
Hat's off the the Cakewalk staff for delivering as promised.

Perhaps someone from Cakewalk could say how they prioritize bugs. I assume some of it relates to the difficulty of implementing vs. the perceived benefits. For example, storing track colors with templates would be nice, but it's hardly a workflow killer. If it could be done in an afternoon, sure, why not. But if it's complicated, I don't know if the effort is worth the benefits. 
 
Regarding staff view, while more could be done, fixes have been implemented and I'm sure that was influenced by the vocal staff view fan requests. Perhaps XML is waiting on additional staff view fixes...I don't know.
 
Then you have something like Track Routing. This is a significant feature that does what people asked for initially and goes beyond. It's not trivial to implement so I would assume the Bakers would have to make a choice between one big oft-requested feature and several fixes.
 
I do not code so I do not know the intricacies of fixes. Fixes I think would be trivial can take huge amounts of time while something that appears complex turns out to be relatively simple. It may not be possible for CW to say arbitrarily "Since this got more votes, we should do it first" if it means multiple other issues have to go by the wayside. Also, based on past history Cakewalk seems to prefer fixing several related bugs at once. The issues with looping, punching, and time slip are a good example. There were multiple bugs reported for those functions and CW fixed them in one big bug sweep. 
 
It may not be possible to give a definitive answer on how fixes are prioritized because there may be too many variables. It would take someone from Cakewalk to give an answer here that's not speculation.

Brilliant! New Start Menu...couldn't be happier with this. Organisation is very important to me. If Platinum becomes a stable platform with a good internal structure it will make working in the DAW second to none. So very happy. This is something that I was asking for. It should enable me to bring old projects and new projects on one page with out upsetting the order in which I made my tracks. 
 
Have not seen it yet but it is a welcomed change to the was how sonar will look and feel moving ahead. Still pops and clicks within the programme but hopefully they will look into that aswell.

Anderton
 Similarly, the request to re-order synths in the synth rack so you don't have synths with all the same name if you forget to name them. The workaround is to name them :)

I don't understand how does re-ordering of synths relate to naming them? I need reordering to place drums with drums, and so on. If I decide to add another layer to existing synth, I don't want them to be for example 5th and 47th in the list, I want them to be near each other. If there would be such function, everybody who uses synth rack would use it, as everybody who uses track view also uses re-ordering of tracks, I'm sure.

Haven't been following this closely (even though I should have it seems) so I'm sure this has been covered. Watched the vid and it's definitely an improvement over the old start screen... but...
 
RE: The newsfeed thingie... Can that be completely disabled (indepently from the Startscreen) and/or is this something that's going to be trying to call home for updates?
 
It's a nice idea and I understand the reasoning but I don't want something trying to connect to Cake headquarters all willy nilly. Of course I am here regularly so am usually aware of new stuff going on and I simply don't want anything randomly "waking up" to do something on my DAW... especially when I'm doing something else. Even if it only connects at boot up of the system or starting Sonar.... still not digging that.
 
So yeah, can that (and just that) part of it be disabled? My DAW remains offline 99% of the time anyway but just the act of a program reaching out for stuff like that is not something I like (I don't use CCC and use manual updates for pretty much everything on the DAW). I also don't want a situation where when I DO connect to the internet Sonar automatically starts trying to download a bunch of "Newsflashes" or whatever. When I go online with the DAW it is for very specific purposes and I don't want something like that going wacky in the background... at least not without me actively choosing an option to MAKE it happen (which I am not opposed to... so maybe a "Connect to Cake News" button would be nice when I do feel like looking at what's up).
 
Everything else looks fine and will likely be very useful to me. Even the newsfeed looks good but I don't want it on my DAW. Actually I might even install SPlat on my sh*tty laptop that I use for my intertubing (even though I can't actually run Sonar on this thing) just to open it up and get the news feed.
 
Probably already been answered somewhere. If not though I would like to know.
 
Thanks and hopefully that's not too anally d*ckish.
 
Cheers.

To be honest the new start screen looks completely worthless to me, sorry. Absolutely nothing on there delivers value to me as a user, with the tiny exception that it can tell me when there's an update - but other apps manage that in an unobtrusive way without needing a whole new screen for it. The fact that it can tell me the tempo and time signature of a project could have been useful, except it's hidden behind a click - meaning I will just not bother and will keep adding that into the filename so I can see it instantly at a glance when I click the 'Existing Project' option, which I will do 9 times out of 10.

Beepster
It's a nice idea and I understand the reasoning but I don't want something trying to connect to Cake headquarters all willy nilly. Of course I am here regularly so am usually aware of new stuff going on and I simply don't want anything randomly "waking up" to do something on my DAW... especially when I'm doing something else. Even if it only connects at boot up of the system or starting Sonar.... still not digging that.

Should not get in the way if one can assume it runs much like the automatic VST scan.
(a) It executes on startup.
(b) Runs in it's own separate process so it not interfere or crash with anything, once done it gracefully exits.
(c) Has been tested with windows offline.
(d) Can be disabled just like the auto VST scan.

Kylotan
To be honest the new start screen looks completely worthless to me, sorry. Absolutely nothing on there delivers value to me as a user, with the tiny exception that it can tell me when there's an update - but other apps manage that in an unobtrusive way without needing a whole new screen for it. The fact that it can tell me the tempo and time signature of a project could have been useful, except it's hidden behind a click - meaning I will just not bother and will keep adding that into the filename so I can see it instantly at a glance when I click the 'Existing Project' option, which I will do 9 times out of 10.

Well... I'd say this.
 
No, it doesn't make a profound difference to anything directly, though I'm completely sold on Ryan's argument earlier in the thread. If it helps to take some weight off the customer support work at Cakewalk, we do all indirectly benefit from that.
 
Also, as we know, Sonar has now moved from yearly version updates to ongoing development. And an occasional new coat of paint and a run round with a broom is bound to be part of that.

It could have just been a link at the bottom of the existing start dialog that said, "New updates available! Click here to launch the Cakewalk Control Center" and that would cover 95% of it. "No need to check email or the web for your monthly updates anymore."... I don't, that's what CCC is for. Stick a link to that in the main app, flag it up when something new is available, done.

Pinning the projects you want as priorities even if they aren't "recent," and being able to switch templates easily without having to do the "normal.cwt" shuffle is a definite improvement. I also think the tip feature will be good for disseminating "Cool, I didn't know that" info.
 
IMHO whether notifications end up being useful or not depends on what Cakewalk chooses as worthy of being a notification.