irvin
All we can do as users is decide if the trend is one we benefit from and then act accordingly.

Unfortunately, the trend is spreading to encompass our entire lives.  Other daws, plugins, etc. can't be far behind.
Makes me want to retreat offline, but I'd probably miss the anxiety.
 

John T
Weighting data is always tricky, because it means adding presumptions to what the data means.

But Cakewalk will be weighting the questions it asks.  They can't get inside our heads, and they are not asking us for our opinions, so they'll have to make presumptions on what to track and that will certainly affect the data.  On what will these presumptions be based ?
 

stevec

ampfixer
 
...I don't think anyone is trying to remove the voice of the customer.

That is one key point I've picked up from this thread - these analytics are an addition to existing means of collecting user data, not a substitution.   If can they provide something that the other means cannot, more power to them.
 

Exactly. Right now, some of the shortfalls that people point out will still exist regardless if we put in Analytics or not. The reality is you can never understand every users experience in a way that is measurable and actionable. One user may rely on MIDI more and their perspective will be skewed. Another might only be mixing so they have a different point of view. What analytics does provide, is a very direct way to measure many users and understand how they use the product. This is not very different than say Google Analytics, which is used by many many companies to measure the effectiveness of their website. They can track how many visits, what pages are popular, where people exit the site, etc. You can't tell a company that knowing this data isn't a benefit. What if your traffic all of a sudden drops? You might want to investigate. Will it be able to tell, per-user, what their particular experience was on the site? Maybe they visited the site and found it hard to understand. You wouldn't get that data. But in general, I think having data and understanding how people use your app is very smart and is good for the developer and the customer. And as you said, it's not a substitute for other mediums. The fact that we are taking to our forums to share this news and replying to customers shows we still value other feedback mediums.

Paul P

John T
Weighting data is always tricky, because it means adding presumptions to what the data means.

But Cakewalk will be weighting the questions it asks.  They can't get inside our heads, and they are not asking us for our opinions, so they'll have to make presumptions on what to track and that will certainly affect the data.  On what will these presumptions be based ?
 

Undoubtedly something terrible that will turn everything into the worst possible imaginable version of itself as quickly as possible.

Nothing against sending something to Cakewalk, but...

1. all written by Cakewalk network related operations so far are close to the state "more or less work after half an year improvements" (CCC, Start Page). I do not believe in "this one will work seamless and correct from the beginning", sorry.
2. so far, Cakewalk has not acknowledge/refused/commented on some carefully constructed bug reports submitted quite long time ago. No time? Ok... But sufficient time for "Big Data Analysis"?
3. Sonar aged core is already suffering from the new interface, almost all more or less modern additions have at least one-two glitches / not existing functions / "blast from the past" exposures (I mean folders, instrument tracks, pro-channel and its modules, take lanes, MIDI, etc.). I worry that yet another bindings to core functions for analytics collection can make the situation even worse.

I do wonder what it would be like to do analytics for the first time...   I expect it will take some time before patterns start to emerge.    
 
I certainly plan to participate so CW has my workflows in their database 'cause they're important to me.  If what I do is essentially the same as a large number of other users, that's fine, it's obviously an important workflow.   If what I do has some uniqueness to it, good, awareness of alternate workflows.   And if it helps to improve things in any way, shape or form...  great!
 

backwoods
is this like a method for collecting efficiency metrics or something? i thought it might be a metering suite before i started reading. what will it be sending? where the mouse cursor is at, at all times? keystrokes per hour? 
 
 

I thought of that. Or I that it might be a tool for reading crash dump files.
 
But anyway, I'll probably leave it on.

Please, please, just one request:
 
Make it clear from which version this will be included in.

azslow3

1. all written by Cakewalk network related operations so far are close to the state "more or less work after half an year improvements" (CCC, Start Page). I do not believe in "this one will work seamless and correct from the beginning", sorry.
2. so far, Cakewalk has not acknowledge/refused/commented on some carefully constructed bug reports submitted quite long time ago. No time? Ok... But sufficient time for "Big Data Analysis"?
3. Sonar aged core is already suffering from the new interface, almost all more or less modern additions have at least one-two glitches / not existing functions / "blast from the past" exposures (I mean folders, instrument tracks, pro-channel and its modules, take lanes, MIDI, etc.). I worry that yet another bindings to core functions for analytics collection can make the situation even worse.

 
I'd be surprised if the Bakers dropped everything to build this. Probably bought in from a 3rd party. That's how I'd do it.
 
 
If the analytics can reveal what features the wider usership actually uses, the Bakers will be able to bypass the bug reports (posted by a limited usership) and focus on those bugs that really stand in the average user's way.

jpetersen
Please, please, just one request:
 
Make it clear from which version this will be included in.

Don't you read the ezines?