I intend to stay with Sonar, but also use Studio One. I can't yet say how much I'll use one vs. the other, but the intent is to use both as long as is plausible. I am kind of thinking that Microsoft will eventually take the decision out of our hands.

Over the initial shock:  I have gone through the five stages of grief -
 
1. Denial
2. Anger
3. Depression
4. Bargaining
5. Acceptance
 
It is what it is...  I like others was recording on Sonar last night and this morning.  It will play itself out - staying where I am at for now 
 

Ozz
I'm not a professional.....just a hobbyist, so I'm in no rush to use something else.  I've been essentially using nothing but Cakewalk/Sonar since the late 80s.  I'm probably only using about 10% of the capabilities of this program as is.
 
As long as I'll be able to continue to install and use the program if I have to replace any hardware, or want to build a new machine...I'll use it.   (At least until it either gets broken by something, or just gets really out of date)

 
That's basically where I'm at too.  I started with Sonar X1 Studio and followed the upgrade path to SPlat.  Sonar is the only DAW I've ever used to mix and master music.  I fall prey to advertising now and again though and decided Harrison Mixbus was a good idea:(
 
Recently I picked up a PreSonus Faderport and with help from this forum got it setup.  There's been a lot of buzz about Studio One, lots of tutorials, people switching from Pro Tools, not to mention the integration with those new 16 Channel FaderPorts and those Studio Live mixers, so I downloaded a trial version last month.  If I'm forced to another DAW it will probably be Studio One, but like you said, as long as SPlat works in its current state, it's more DAW than I'll ever need.

Sonar is like German Engineering, built to last.(thats what they used to say)
Not like American Engineering, built to break @ 59,000 miles  and your choices are
Parts
New car althogether
lease, just keep paying forever
I'm gonna keep driving my 2017 Sonar sl 600 until the wheels fall off. and I'm still keeping it.
 
To be competitive in todays market, you need to:
have what people want and need,   check
you need to be innovative and keep people interested and wanting more, check
you need to listen to the people who are paying you, check
and you need to do all this at a competitive price,...........lifetime updates....bad move.(unless it was a criminal decision, then very bad move)
either way, I never could see how a product that does not get consumed, keep generating income, you need new customers, or repeat customers, and at some point with all the overhead cost continuing, something has got to give.  I believe it's called diminishing returns, not like when mixing music and you keep doing stuff until it's overcooked, but like spending so much money on something that only get a tiny bit better, I believe this is where we are with Sonar, it is so good that they can't afford to make it better, at the current income rate.  I would have been happy paying every year like we've been doing since it came out, but a lot of people kept complaining about the prices, when they didn't even have to upgrade, so here we are with a fine product, that will remain fine and will always deliver on what it's made to for, a platform to capture the music we make and take it to the next level, so, I see no need to  panic, Sonar will forever do what it's made to do, only when we change what we want to do, is when we should look elsewhere.
 

Kamikazi: 
Staying until computer issues force the change. I'm looking to move to and SSD, and I have have new ram in Engand (arrived the same day as my morning flight out.) Once that is a installed an image of my computer should mean I have something stable to return to. Every year the list of pieces in the complete DAW become less and less. There are only things I fancy now, nothing I really want. After this Black Friday I feel my software base is where I want it. 
 
 
 
Yes me too I'm upgrading my main DAW when my Black Friday parts get here. I even bought a new quieter power supply. 
I'm going to install Windows 7 as I want to be able to go online with out worrying about updates screwing things up.
 
I'll put the existing drive in a USB encloser I just bought on sale for $14 as a back up of my current system. 
 
I'm looking forward to a few years of un interrupted music making. No updates, no more re authorizing plug ins. 
I've enjoyed a lot of the new toys for sure, but that all takes time away from recording. 
 
Sonar as it stands today has all I want. So in a way it's almost a relief not to be pestered with new stuff every month. If anything I would have just like them to spend a year making it 100% bug free if that was even possible. I guess my last crash dump is somewhere in the server gathering dust with many. I'm hoping my new SSD will solve that issue. It was getting old and full. 

I am in the same boat as a few here who are in their mid sixties and feel that Sonar will probably serve them for the rest of their life..............so long as it works.

I’ll be with my SPLAT until my ending days. Im 39 and cakewalk user for 22 years. 💪🏼. I think that Sonar will reborn in some point.

Time to time.

35mm
I'm definitely staying with Sonar. Let me put it this way, If I can find a deal now that I like for a competitive crossgrade I will take it. In the meantime, I will stay with Sonar simply because it is the best the DAW the world ever reached. There is no legitimate alternative. There are various companies vying for our trade as they would be if they had any sense. What they never tell you is how great Sonar is and how if they could make a Sinar, or any plans to make their software that good. We had the best. I was shocked when I looked at other DAWs to see that there was no replacement. Gibson didn't just kill a thing they killed a hell of a thing. Every other DAW literally wanted to be like Sonar. Studio One? No, anyone who has gone in that direction will regret it. 

I use studio one daily and have no regrets. I have not abandoned sonar, but if sonar stopped working i would be dissapointed but would not miss a step. I habe had beloved software apps go bye bye amd ot was sad but eventually you adapt. The change between 8.5 was jarring for many and there are STILL some holdouts. A jump to S1 may not work for you, but honestly it works better for me amd a few others for what we do at the time than sonar.

35mm
I'm definitely staying with Sonar. Let me put it this way, If I can find a deal now that I like for a competitive crossgrade I will take it. In the meantime, I will stay with Sonar simply because it is the best the DAW the world ever reached. There is no legitimate alternative. There are various companies vying for our trade as they would be if they had any sense. What they never tell you is how great Sonar is and how if they could make a Sinar, or any plans to make their software that good. We had the best. I was shocked when I looked at other DAWs to see that there was no replacement. Gibson didn't just kill a thing they killed a hell of a thing. Every other DAW literally wanted to be like Sonar. Studio One? No, anyone who has gone in that direction will regret it. 

I'm pissed that I may have to spend time learning another DAW rather than just make music - after learning Sonar for so many years...and of course more to learn. So, I've done my homework and the question of what is the best DAW is usually (wisely) answered 'the one you know the best!' 
 
I've seen many programs developed for so many other DAW's and only on the rare occasion is Sonar included in the list of DAW's. I too have looked at other DAW's in the past out of curiosity but I keep coming back to Sonar, as for me, it's simply the best DAW around. 
 
I'm missing the monthly updates as well...but I would have gladly sacrificed them for a while as long as I knew that someone would fix it, if Windows' updates broke. 
 
R.I.P Sonar. And Let's hope like the Phoenix, you arise once more renewed and stronger. I will celebrate that time. 

After thinking about this for the last couple days, I've decided to slowly migrate to Mixcraft as my main DAW.  I'll continue to use Sonar, because I've got it configured the way I like it on my desktop computer.  The new hardware platform I will be migrating to (that in my sig) is just waiting for a couple fan extension cables that are coming on Monday.  I have been working with Mixcraft quit a bit on my slightly under powered desktop computer, because it is a lot faster than Sonar for getting basic stuff done, and because since Miscraft 6 it has been my go-to platform for providing audio for video (which seems to be one of my bigger focuses [foci?] recently).  Because of Sonar's pioneering work with a 64-bit engine, and its proven multi-core capability (it will be interesting to see how it performs with 16 cores and 32 available threads), I expect that it will strongly outperform Mixcraft on the new platform.  However, Acoustica hasn't been a slouch when it comes to hardware integration, so while Sonar remains stagnant, Mixcraft will only improve.  For me, "the little DAW that could", has matured into "the little DAW that can".  If you asked me last week what I thought the best DAW was, I would have enthusiastically answered, Sonar.  Even today, I would probably give the same answer, albeit less enthusiastically (at least as it applies to my workflow).  However, if you asked me what my favorite DAW was, I would probably have answered Mixcraft on both occasions.

mikedocy

ibediggin
cakewalk has screwed all of us and if you think they care
pink rabbits do exist

Cakewalk didn't screw us.
Henry did. That is the guy that got Gibson into a 500 million debt.

A lot of us raised a loud voice of anguish when Gibson bought Cakewalk. We knew what was coming. I watched through the years as Opcode, Oberheim and a whole host of companies were absorbed and digested by the corporate machine. When confronted with this information, the Bakers stated here on the forum that if Gibson failed, they would continue on their own and there was no reason for concern. Obviously, that isn't what happened. So, why didn't the Bakers keep it going on their own? Not enough revenue, etc? Who knows... Only they do, and they're not really saying anything except for that one statement. It's wait and see at this point.
 
I still fire up 8.5.3 for the fun of it, and always will. The wheels keep turning...