bapu
Having bo inside info I would say that there will be more news than just how you pay for it and what you get in the new model.
 
Can you say hover car?

Bo.....should know.

Cakewalk will be allowed to use whatever bathroom it identifies with?

Ha ha I feel like a guinea pig in a lab   I think I'm part of a big Cakewalk / Gibson experiment and good luck to them. 
 
They are first to market with another new billing model that is RADICALLY different than anything else in the market, something that looks too good to be true, and seeing how much of a stir that makes in the market place through word of mouth pre launch.
 
I used to run a software development house, that developed its own products, and I know that the "one time payment" offer is lunacy in terms of product lifecycle and recurring revenues. At the end of the day, developers and testers cost money on an ongoing basis, and new revenues need to be generated to keep them coding and developing the product. Product support needs to keep the ship running and supporting customers, giving them a great customer experience. The product needs to be developed to attract new customers, and all that takes time and money that needs to be funded....hence the need to new and recurring revenues.
 
UNLESS the product is legacy / end of life, then it makes perfect sense!  It is a great smash and grab to milk the last drops of new revenue out of the product whilst you launch your new product.  Eventually the new product overtakes the revenues of the legacy product which has effectively "funded" the launch of your new product.
 
Make of that what you will. 
 
My guess is a new product announcement is imminent! This may well have been through an acquisition or partnership. When or what that will be, then your guess is as good as mine.
 
Good luck to them, I think Cakewalk's customer experience is a great one.  I trust them, and look forward to hearing what's coming.  I'm sure its got rival product developers scratching their heads.  I just hope someone doesn't f*ck up a great company as so often happens when a corporate takes ownership of a smaller company. 
 
However only good things have happened since the Gibson takeover so I'm not worried.  It feels like a forward looking company union in ever way, or at least that's how it seems to the outside world. 
 
 
 
 

I went ahead and got the lifetime license. Cakewalk has never really steered us wrong with licensing issues before and being that it's only for such a limited amount of time, leads me to believe this is more of a gift to people who have been dedicated to the company for a while than any ploy because of a big change coming that will really change the face of the company for the long run (hopefully for the better). If nothing else, it means I get next year paid for and if there are third party stuff I miss out on, I can buy them and likely still come out on top; though as I said before, I can't imagine too many companies would not give us the plugins that go into future updates of Sonar because of how much money they make from all of us upgrading... like Melodyne and Addictive Drums have.