trtzbassHow would we react if the bakers decided to skip a month for some reason like (knock on wood) unexpected last - second instability or because they'd redirect the efforts to complete a critical update?
How would we react if the bakers decided to skip a month for some reason like (knock on wood) unexpected last - second instability or because they'd redirect the efforts to complete a critical update?
Are we enabling the developers to use their best judgement or do we make them feel like they need to give us something every month just to keep faithful to their pledge?
Am I making more sense?

There is no undue pressure from the users on the bakers as such. The bakers will have their own goals and time frames that they work to. There will always be something to release each month. Maybe some thing won't be ready for final release and will be pulled out before release, but there will be other stuff ready to roll out.
 
I don't think the users are impatient. Maybe a little bit excited! If anything I should imagine the pressure comes from the market place.
 
As I explained in my last post agile development practices involve breaking up jobs into smaller units spanning shorter amounts of time so the monthly release is likely much more efficient and better for the bakers than the old annual or long term release and probably makes the whole caboodle easier to manage all round.

35mm
To the OP,
 
I don't think you understand how software development works. You seem to be under the impression that the bakers are scrabbling around all month trying to come up with that month's update. That isn't the case. They use a versioning system such as git, which uses branches. One of those branches is the production branch which is what you end up using, but there is also a master branch and lots of development branches coming off that. What gets released in the production branch at the end of the month is a culmination of stuff that's been in development and testing for months. Behind the scenes, developers will be working on all sorts of stuff, trying out new ideas many of which may never see the light of day, fixing bugs etc.
 
Something else that modern software companies use is an agile development method e.g. scrum. That's too complicated to go into here, but in essence, it involves splitting everything into manageable chunks, assigning each chunk to a developer and assigning a time span to that. Then holding regular meetings to assess the progress of each thing. This all breaks down to make everything manageable and highly productive. And here's the big thing. A monthly release fits into the agile method perfectly! So monthly releases are so much more efficient all round and result in much higher quality.
 
Monthly releases are also more efficient for us users for similar reasons. It means that we don't have to cope with getting our heads around a major new release that suddenly changes the whole landscape and has to be re-learned all in one go. Instead, we get bite size changes each month which are far easier to understand and integrate into our workflows. If a release introduces a new bug, that bug can be fixed and rolled out much quicker without having to wait a year for the next major release or fiddling about with messy patches.
 
There are users who dislike the monthly release model, but perhaps if they understood a little about software development they would understand that it is a much better system all round. It's worth remembering that much of the Sonar you will be using in June 2018 exists in a branch now that bakers have access to and that makes our current version of Sonar look dated! They are constantly working in the future so that we can be up to date today and monthly releases mean that we are even more up to date - by about 11 months!

I would agree with everything you have written except, what you have written is a text book "wish list." of what companies would have people believe. Again, nothing you stated is misleading but it does not really work that way.

That is what the public relations of development is, when the rubber meets the road, whatever can be put together will be delivered, not in all cases but it happens too often.

Unless you work for Cakewalk, nobody really knows what is happening, or what software methodology is being used. I have worked for massive software companies only to discover, that despite what is represented to the public, is night and day compare to what is happening behind the scenes.

To the OP credits, I have never seen someone so carefully write a post so that no one is offended. He qualifies all of his remarks and writes a declaimer for each sentence affirming his love for Cakewalk.

Does anyone have the right to say they dislike a certain model? Should someone complain about anything?

Again, you have not say anything inaccurate, I am simply saying that it does not work that way, and will not solve the OP's problem.

The core features I need form Sonar appears to work well. But nothing is perfect.

trtzbass
Even tho I admit I don't know how software developement works,

You are a Customer/User you should not be required to Understand Software Development to have an opinion about something you have purchased. You made a very constructive post.

I bought a Yamaha Montage, and I honestly do not think it's worth the Price point, I do not have to understand anything to have some negative feeling or an opinion.

All I can tell you is that, I truly believes Cakewalk is doing what's in the Software best interest so that overall users are pleased. The reason I say this is because it is in the Company's best interest to keep the software special and attractive.

So far I am pleased but you do have the right to have a different opinion without requiring a degree in computer science.

The beauty of the monthly updates.......they are all voluntary.

So true, I only update if there is something I need and sometimes I do not need the stuff except if there are fixes required.

When the monthly updates were first announced, Cakewalk stated quite categorically that their commitment was to create updates that would benefit us and they were putting themselves under that pressure not the members.

After more than 30 months the Bakers have well and truly lived up to their commitment to us and did it in the face of a lot of naysayers who would have had Cakewalk fold because their plan was impossible to implement.

Well here we are with the months rolling on, the naysayers have been proved wrong and rather than pressure i reckon the Bakers could well and truly gloat for what is quite an outstanding achievement for a small company in a rather crowded niche market place.

Chorus:
And so say all of us...............