I wish I had a door opener job to put on my resume.

sharke
Here's another comment from the same guy on a different thread, when asked if he would go back in the event that Cakewalk was sold:

"Under the right owner, yes in a heartbeat. Roland, Gibson - neither really "got" Cakewalk, it's customers or software for that matter.

Gibson is under an enormous amount of debt and maybe that will encourage them to sell it but the truth is that Henry J doesn't give a ****. Not about musicians, not about guitars, not about loyal customers, not about his own employees. For all of Roland's quirks they wholly understood the value of what they had and they were truly passionate about music and their employees.

Fingers crossed that the decision makers in Nashville come to their senses and sell it before every user jumps ship. If recent history is any indicator of future behavior then it's dead Jim."

And he had this to say about the possibility of a Microsoft takeover:

"Microsoft would be an interesting fit.

* They already have an office nearby in Cambridge.
* We've worked closely with them for years, recently on the BT MIDI stuff and surface dial support. Noel has a history of nagging them for Audio fixes/improvements. WASAPI .....
* It would create a great opportunity to include SONAR Home Studio with every version of Windows."

All that is quite fascinating, appalling and not completely a surprise, although the comments about MS and Cakewalk are very interesting. I knew Cake and MS had done some stuff together, but I didn't realize there was a fairly solid relationship going back for years. I have to admit I considered the whole "Save us Microsoft, you're our only hope" thing to be an impossible longshot and very pie-in-the-sky (although I am quite sympathetic to the impulse), but maybe there is more to the idea than I thought. Was I being too cynical?... 

From my reading of it YES it seems to be bad management all over the place FROM BOTH COMPANIES - Gibson and Cakewalk.
 
TBH it seems this guy Henry didnt really give a crap and left Cakewalk to own devices. This guy Henry didnt give a crap period it would seem, didnt get nor know what he had bought previously .. 
 
Surely regardless of Cakewalks bad management the buck still stopped with the parent company Gibson for NOT managing the Cakewalk progress under Gibson properly, even if that were watching the business and the Cake management and intervening to sort out any management issues.
 
"There is no CEO of Cakewalk. The person overseeing Cakewalk also manages Gibson Pro Audio. She means well but doesn't know anything about software and placed her faith in the most ****est of employees. "
 
I mean for FK sake. This WAS on GIBSONS watch and there decision. Why buy a company and then put someone who doesnt know anything about software as the Cakewalk overseer .. Jezus!!
 
What really P**SES me off is our Software that we loved for so long - 30 years for some of us - has been cheaply run in to the ground like this .. shear carelessness & disregard BY MANAGEMENTs.  We should be very angry about this ...
 
 
 

Sixfinger
I wish I had a door opener job to put on my resume.

I would write more general for the resume.  Maybe 'executive button pusher'.  You know, just to get the interview ;)

Wasn't there a Flannigan dude in their somewhere?

Wow, most informative thing I've read about this whole mess. His explanation for lifetime updates plan seems to confirm what Anderton has said recently as well. Of course as noted it's one employee's take on it, but I think to anyone who's ever had a job at any level in any dysfunctional corporate environment, it's depressingly familiar. 

I think John should make the link a sticky.

Uncomfortable read but not entirely surprising. You could see the staff turnover happening, which isn't a great sign. It's a real shame - the people doing the actual work were good people, really passionate about the program and users, but there's only so much you can do when the powers that be cut the heads off of any good initiatives.

Sixfinger
I wish I had a door opener job to put on my resume.

They might give you a sixfinger salary!

(God I'm hilarious)

mister happy
I think John should make the link a sticky.

 
LOL Mike