Craig, this is too much spin, even for you.  Think what you will and spin it any way you want. The old way was easier to see and crossfades are not the same as the end of clip fades.

So, tell me which part was "spun." Let's look at what I said phrase by phrase so there's no misunderstanding.
 
"No, it's not a bug."
 
It's not. It was done on purpose, and in a few lines you'll find out why.
 
"The yellow, blue, and red lines are all gone"
 
This is true.
 
"- part of "eliminating visual clutter left over from yesteryear’s operating systems. The announcement of the update with all the bullet points said:

• Red, Yellow, & Blue hit zones flags have been removed
• Fade indicators in the corners of clips have been removed"

This is true.
 
"Eliminating visual clutter" is the reason Cakewalk gave me for removing the colored lines and I quoted it because I actually use the program, I agree with why they did it, and here's why if you haven't played enough with the new version yet to figure it out for yourself.
 

• When you hover over the upper left corner in the left edge (beginning) of a clip to begin a fade-in, a unique cursor shows a fade-in symbol, indicating you are over a clip edge. You then click and then drag to the right to create the fade in. Agreed?
•  When you hover over the upper right corner in the right edge (end) of a clip to begin a fade-out, a unique cursor shows a fade-out symbol, indicating you are over a clip edge. You then click and then drag to the left to create the fade out. Agreed?
•  After clicking and while dragging, SONAR shows the fade curve as you draw it. Agreed?

 
Of course you have to agree, which means the blue and red lines were completely redundant, a leftover from versions of Cakewalk products from Windows 98 (or maybe even 95) that gives no useful information whatsoever. They don't indicate anything that has to do with a fade, and there's already a unique cursor indicating you're on a clip edge. And in case you had any doubts (like your attention was momentarily distracted by seeing a UFO outside), you KNOW you've clicked on a clip edge if you're creating a fade. Do you really need a colored line that says "Hey, I'm a clip edge, which you already know you've clicked on because you saw a unique cursor indicating you were not only on a clip edge but over the fade hot spot and besides, you're seeing a fade being drawn in front of your very eyes"? Good grief.
 
Imagine that SONAR never had the lines. You simply clicked on a clip edge and dragged to create a fade, like every other effing DAW on the planet that I've used. Then one day, a version comes out and adds colored lines. I can't imagine the reaction being anything other than "WTF are these blue and red lines? How do they help me create a fade? What do they do? Why are they there?"
 
Furthermore, it's stupid to have two totally different ways of indicating a stretch. There was already a stretch tool. Why not have ONE indication - a stretch tool, which is unambiguous (who knows what a yellow line means?) - that a stretch is occurring?
 
"It's true the eZine didn't mention the colors specifically"
 
This is true.
 
"but it did say how crossfades (and therefore fades) were redone to make the fades more obvious when zoomed out."
 
This is also true and extremely helpful. If you think this is the part I'm spinning, here's what the crossfades in a song looked like before.
 

 
Here's what they look like now.
 

 
But if it makes you feel better, I'll admit it probably is a mistake for me to assume that people actually read the release notes and related documentation. Apparently it never hurts to repeat the same thing in as many places as humanly possible to make sure people don't miss it.
 
And since you felt it necessary to say "even for you," feel free to point out other examples rather than relying on innuendo. The only one I can think of was when I thought a bug was NOT a bug because it was consistent with how a particular set of internal rules would be set up. When it turned out those were not how the internal rules were set up, then it was shown to be a bug. So sue me.

dannyjmusic
Slip stretching not working for me either since update

Ctrl + shift drag is how it's done now.

I read the notes when it was released as I was concerned due to comments made in the forum prior to release that fade/crossfades had been "removed". Tried it out (fades and stretching) satisfying myself that no such thing had happened and carried on as before.

On a different note:
Did Craig use the term "effing"? I think he did.

Grum.

Good Ol' Craig. A murmur of unrest is met with the rolling thunder of the party line. I love it.
 
Your a good man Anderton, but the peons do get the option of not liking every change that Cakewalk makes. Don't take it so personally, it's just a computer program. Nobody called you lineage or honesty into question. 
 
And no, I don't know how every other effin' DAW works and handles clip management. Point - Anderton.

Anderton

• When you hover over the upper left corner in the left edge (beginning) of a clip to begin a fade-in, a unique cursor shows a fade-in symbol, indicating you are over a clip edge. You then click and then drag to the right to create the fade in. Agreed?
•  When you hover over the upper right corner in the right edge (end) of a clip to begin a fade-out, a unique cursor shows a fade-out symbol, indicating you are over a clip edge. You then click and then drag to the left to create the fade out. Agreed?
•  After clicking and while dragging, SONAR shows the fade curve as you draw it. Agreed?

 
Of course you have to agree, which means the blue and red lines were completely redundant, a leftover from versions of Cakewalk products from Windows 98 (or maybe even 95) that gives no useful information whatsoever. They don't indicate anything that has to do with a fade, and there's already a unique cursor indicating you're on a clip edge. And in case you had any doubts (like your attention was momentarily distracted by seeing a UFO outside), you KNOW you've clicked on a clip edge if you're creating a fade. Do you really need a colored line that says "Hey, I'm a clip edge, which you already know you've clicked on because you saw a unique cursor indicating you were not only on a clip edge but over the fade hot spot and besides, you're seeing a fade being drawn in front of your very eyes"? Good grief.
 
Imagine that SONAR never had the lines. You simply clicked on a clip edge and dragged to create a fade, like every other effing DAW on the planet that I've used. Then one day, a version comes out and adds colored lines. I can't imagine the reaction being anything other than "WTF are these blue and red lines? How do they help me create a fade? What do they do? Why are they there?"
 

I found the red line to be useful information, in that it was easier for me to see where the edge of the fade crossed the waveform. 

My only complaint is having to now push two keys to invoke stretching. This is definitely not easier.

JCody
My only complaint is having to now push two keys to invoke stretching. This is definitely not easier.

Can it be changed via hot key?