I remember when I used to think time was a serious news magazine. And when the sub-editors could spell correctly.

however, credit is due for the mention of Justin (gnutella) Franklin's current project, cockos reaper. It's music production software and they seem to push out maintenance releases every week, if not more often. Over the last few years I've watched it grow from a 'proof of concept' alpha to a sophisticated and versatile suite, while remaining very fast, well-documented, and extensible. It's also shareware, but without being crippled, just a polite reminder on load. I don't use it for audio production, but I keep an eye on the project and am impressed by the continual release pattern instead of the sprint/collapse model.

Take a look at their release notes, and the dates thereon (page is text): http://www.cockos.com/reaper/download-old.php