A message for the professionals who are freaking out

There's a lot of concern right now about what to do next, and nobody's more panicked than the professionals who depend on their DAW to make a living. They are rightly thinking about how to protect their businesses. To them, I say: calm down. Take a deep breath, and carefully consider your options - and, more important, the unforeseen consequences of any rushed decisions you make today. 
 
In the wider world of truly mission-critical applications, a DAW doesn't even make the list. Even if you depend on it for your livelihood. How about the software that lands airplanes in bad weather? Or that monitors you during surgery? Or tells a cruise missile what to blow up?
 
Back when I worked for a computer manufacturer, one of my customers was a nuclear power plant. Talk about software you can't allow to fail - ever. The first time I spoke with them, I was surprised at how far out of date they were with the O/S. They were having some problem with a driver. Like the noob I was at the time, I asked why they didn't just update it - the standard advice you give when you're a newly-minted software support analyst who doesn't yet know WTF he's doing.
 
That's when I first had the term "mission-critical" explained to me. They explained that they worked under strict rules set by the NRC for software changes, rules that set such rigorous requirements that it took at least two years to certify an O/S revision. My company was on an 18-month major-release cycle, which made O/S revs a moving target. They'd had to freeze their version, and they'd been working with my employer for over three years to find, fix and mitigate every conceivable flaw in it. That's why they were still using "outdated" software.
 
The point of this is this: by staying on one version long-term they were actually improving reliability. Every defect in that version had been identified and dealt with, either by getting a fix from the manufacturer or devising a workaround to avoid it. Sure, they missed out on new features. But they also weren't constantly trading one set of bugs they knew about for a new set of bugs they didn't know.
 
As Panu noted in another thread, there will be no bug fixes for SONAR but there will also be no new bugs. We know its current weaknesses and none of them are showstoppers (definition of "showstopper": a flaw that prevents users from using a key feature). We have nothing to fear from SONAR itself.
 
Ah, but what about Microsoft, you say? They could break us at any moment.
 
If you're a pro and that worries you, do what the nuclear power plant did. Take your DAW offline and freeze it in a stable state. Test all software changes on a separate computer before installing them on your mission-critical system. Don't go installing some file-conversion utility you found for free on a Chinese website. Don't play video games on your DAW. Don't tweak the registry because you saw some optimization technique in a YouTube video. Don't run anti-virus software (you don't need it, you're offline now). 
 
Now, I can hear you protesting: this is easy for you to say, bit. You're just a hobbyist. Well, I may be a hobbyist but I am just as serious about this stuff as any professional. Losing my DAW might not cost me money, but it would still be a horrible tragedy. I have no intention of risking that!
 
And although I am not a recording professional, I am a software professional. I make my living helping other people make theirs. I have to understand risks and how to mitigate them. And I am here to tell you that Microsoft is not going to break SONAR anytime soon. I know people still running SONAR 4. Think about how many changes Windows has undergone since 2004. It still works! Sure, they're missing out on all the cool features Cakewalk has added, but for them, S4 does everything they need. Namely, recording and mixing audio.
 
Picking up skills on another DAW is not a bad idea. I'll be doing the same, even if I haven't yet settled on which one to adopt. I'm just in no hurry. SONAR already does everything I could ever want it to do, and I'm confident it'll continue to do so for a long, long time.

That's the unknown right now.
But I'm confident may current systems are "safe".
I have numerous system images.
T

The first thing I'll reach for when SONAR stops working all together?
 
 
 
Wait for it.......
 
 
 
 
Here it comes......
 
 

When I built my new daw I basically unplugged my fully functioning old daw and let it sit. In the last 2 years I've only booted it to work in a movie program. I forget which version of Sonar is in it. It's a win 7 machine 64 bit.
 
I guess if the worst would happen I could use it. I'm fairly certain there would be major issues with plugins and such. It would likely import current Sonar files. I would need to substitute or rebuild plug in layouts. 
 
I'm a hobbyist. I rely heavily on being connected to the web with my music computer. I don't think I would like going "cold turkey" and unplugging, but that's just me. I know many have done that. I just use too many things that require me to be online. 
 
If Sonar stops working , so be it. I have other options now. I suspect many money producing studios aren't connected to the web as a matter of course and Sonar might be fine for a long time, but do they want to risk it? If they spend hours tracking a client and Sonar stops working or freezes up before the project is complete what can they do? If you use software from a company that is currently in business,you may be able to salvage the project through updates or saving a project to reload into a fresh machine. If you have  a hard copy of the software all the better. No matter how well the software works you could have hardware failure.
 
If I were in business I would try to make it a habit to save all files and have some redundancy just in case. I wouldn't want to be the one to tell a client, " Hey, you know that song we worked on for 6 hours last week.....well.......my computer crashed and I can't get the files back."

I've "owned" Studio One Pro 3.x, Reaper 5.x and Mixbus32C for quite some time now.
 
They are my true backup plan.
 
When SONAR no longer does what I need I have palces to go with (ATM) no cost.

Too many people running for the hills since the Gibson - Cakewalk announcement.  The same Sonar you used two weeks ago to record or mix your song will be the same Sonar tomorrow, next week and 5 months to a year from now. 
 
Why do we allow ourselves to become so frantic at an announcement that doesn't actually affect us in any immediate way whatsoever?   The ones we need to be concerned about are the folks at Cakewalk who have now lost their jobs and have families to take care of and feed.  Those associates who have been hired part-time that now have to find a new living and it's close to the Christmas Holiday. 
 
This is where our prayers and wishes should be focused.   The Daws will be there, they will still be working, but these folks lives have just suddenly changed.

My SW engineering career was spent in space & aviation so I agree and it's not just the SW that is deployed, but development tools as well. As you said "constantly trading one set of bugs they knew about for a new set of bugs they didn't know." I learned pretty quickly that makes it tough to meet schedules 
 

LBJ,
 
You have an excellent website man, best of luck to you and your group.
 

In computer land the backup is your best friend. Nice to read some calm and rational thoughts. I'm using Sonar today and in the future. It feels like old slippers. The fallback DAW search has been great, and a real eye opener. But it's not time for the fallback position. 

I think everything Bit says is true. But, the situation is different for different people. Given my gig, I've always been fluent with multiple DAWs, so it's not as big a deal for me to segue over to something else over time. Just as I used other programs in parallel with SONAR, now I'll use SONAR in parallel with other programs.
 
I doubt Windows will "break" SONAR in a serious way. I could be wrong, but the large number of people who are using versions of SONAR that were designed to work with XP speaks volumes about attention to backwards compatibility.

The idea of having JUST Sonar on one computer, detached from the internet isn't so viable either.  That involves potentially adding another computer to run your other audio programs that DO get updates, etc.  That's more expensive than just a new DAW software.  Unhooking from the internet for Window update fears, doesn't seem like that really is a total solution.  
Basically I view this that Sonar now has a lifespan that WILL end potentially much sooner than other active and competing softwares.  WHEN it ends seems to be the question, but I certainly would not rely on using it for the next 3 years.  Yes it is fine now, but isolating it completely from the outside world and other programs/hardware is not a good solution.
Personally, I think you just chalk it up for what it is....and decide if you want to switch platforms or not.
Also....
I totally believe that there will be new software that comes out....such as Melodyne 4 Editor.... that totally revolutionize certain aspects, and using the current version (from here on out), may limit things like that, and prevent you from being current technically.