Paul P

Boydie
I just wanted to point out that we have the CTO of Cakewalk directly discussing with the users about a future feature of SONAR - as well as Sir Craig of Anderton
 
When you stop to think about it this is actually quite incredible and a testament to how far we have come over the past few years, especially as it is starting to feel like "the norm"

 
I agree that it's great, but to me it's an indication of just how small Cakewalk is.  I often have the impression that the CTO is also the chief programmer.  Not a bad thing, and an efficient way of getting things done, but it reduces the amount of awe involved.
 
It's inspiring that Cakewalk has managed to stay afloat all these years and keep improving.  I imagine there's an awful lot of dedication and hard work behind that.
 

As Yoda once queried, "Judge me by my size, do you?" :)
 
Regardless of how big Cakewalk is, they certainly don't have to engage with their user base like they do, and they definitely don't have to let users have any say in how they develop their software.  Obviously there are plenty of requests/bugs that have gone unanswered and may never see the light of day, but when you consider that several of the new features we've seen just this past year are directly related to (if not the direct result of) suggestions or requests posted on this very thread, I think that in and of itself is worthy of some awe.
 
Considering that other DAW manufacturers charge their customers for technical support or develop their software in accordance with what's fashionable in the industry, I think it's pretty impressive that CW is not only keeping pace with the competition in regards to features and usability, but outright slaughtering the competition in regards to overall value.  Plus they're happy to jump in a speculative thread and provide behind the scenes details on a feature that's still in development, a feature that (quite likely) was a response to user feedback.
 
And no, this isn't meant to be a confrontational post.  I just see their involvement with the user base as being quite awesome, simply because it bucks the trend.  But yeah, it is inspiring to see this software evolve the way it has.  I was skeptical when I jumped onboard the subscription model, but I've been quite impressed thus far.