I believe it started at 5...went to 5.1, kind of like
Windows did with version 3, going to 3.1, then Windows for Workgroups 3.11 etc...

I used both 5 and 5.1 for DOS for years...along with Lotus 123 for DOS...

I remember when Windows 3 launched, and, for me, it was a Godsend.
I was able to copy data from WP to Lotus, and visa versa, which was a
HUGE time savings when compiling reports...it made my life much easier!

Then Word came along...with WYSIWYG...which didn't quite become WYSIWYG
for quite a few years after...and Excel...etc...which only made things even easier!

BTW...I have Beta Tested since Windows 3, and was a member of the MSDN for
quite a while

TheMaartian
Does ANYBODY know how many different versions of WordPervert v5.1 there were? I was forced to use it for a year or so before Motorola IT FINALLY listened to its Windows (engineers) user base and moved us to Word.

I use LibreOffice for my office productivity suite now.  In the event that I need 100% MS Office file format compatibility, I can use the free Microsoft Office Online.  https://products.office.com/en-us/office-online/documents-spreadsheets-presentations-office-online
 
Google Docs is not half bad either.  https://www.google.com/docs/about/
 
But MS Word did suck back in the day when MS Office first began assimilating corporate IT folks.  WordPerfect was way ahead back in the day (from DOS on to early versions of Windows), and so was Lotus 1-2-3 vs. Excel. 

That's what I use now too....free is free...and that's good enough for me!

denverdrummer
Count me as one that would be all on board for MS buying Cakewalk.  Gibson is bleeding red ink, their stock is downgraded just barely above junk rating and they have $520 million in debt and will need to restructure before mid 2018 or face filing bankruptcy.
 
Now I don't know about Cake's financials, they may have been flourishing during this time, but I don't think it's good when your parent company is about to go under.
 
Having the financial stability of being under a cash giant like MS would be good for Cakewalk.  When Apple bought Emagic it was able to popularize the Logic brand and make it exclusive to Mac to the point where a lot of pro studios have switched  over to it, because it's more producer friendly than Pro Tools and cheaper.  Plus putting Garage Band, free on every Mac put it as one of the largest install bases for a DAW, and to go to Logic Pro it's only like $200 direct download because Apple can run it as a break even business because they make profits elsewhere on other products.  Garage Band was like a gateway drug to buying a Mac and upgrading to Logic Pro.
 
There are way too many DAW's on the market, which is a niche market to begin with and the whole music retailer industry is in decline, just look at not only Gibson but Guitar center's decline.  The install base for Sonar is already behind other DAWs and even new DAWs like Bitwig are catching up.
 
Many of you have brought up good points on why it shouldn't happen, and those are valid concerns, but I'm very concerned with Cakewalk's viability being run under Gibson.

I mostly agree with what you say here. 
 
Gibson is an icon, and so is Cakewalk to those who love it.
 
It would be cool if MS could offer enough for Cakewalk to pay off Gibson's debt payments for 20 years or so, give Gibson some time to adjust...
 
If MS could put Cakewalk front and center as the leading Windows DAW, they would have an answer to Apple's Logic Pro (Mac only).
 
Then maybe someday, MS could use their resources to cross platform Sonar for Mac, and step into Apple's turf.
 
But then again, when I look at Microsoft's track record of promoting certain technologies, then killing them off when the return on investment sours, I'm not so sure that is a good thing.  For example, look at the Windows Phone project.  Or Games for Windows.  That last one is like having your favorite TV series cancelled by the network due to viewer ratings declining.  Ugh!

WP5.1 DOS was a work of genius and a joy to use. The power of the macro language was outstanding and light years ahead of the competition. I doubt many have a need today for any more features in a word processor than WP5.1 delivered 25 years ago.

That said, WP for Windows was an utter dog's breakfast which allowed MS Word to steal a march and it became seamless with Windows as part of Office as everyone went PowerPoint crazy in the '90s

A Microsoft acquisition of Cakewalk would be a sad thing but the DAW market is both niche and crowded. Not one of my musician friends who use a DAW use Sonar. They're on Cubase or Logic/ Pro Tools

Worrying times...

abacab
I mostly agree with what you say here. 
 
Gibson is an icon, and so is Cakewalk to those who love it.
 
It would be cool if MS could offer enough for Cakewalk to pay off Gibson's debt payments for 20 years or so, give Gibson some time to adjust...
 
If MS could put Cakewalk front and center as the leading Windows DAW, they would have an answer to Apple's Logic Pro (Mac only).
 
Then maybe someday, MS could use their resources to cross platform Sonar for Mac, and step into Apple's turf.
 
But then again, when I look at Microsoft's track record of promoting certain technologies, then killing them off when the return on investment sours, I'm not so sure that is a good thing.  For example, look at the Windows Phone project.  Or Games for Windows.  That last one is like having your favorite TV series cancelled by the network due to viewer ratings declining.  Ugh!

I used Windows Phone for years, so I hear you on that.  You could write a novel on all the abandoned projects MS had over the years, Zune, the Kin, Microsoft Bob, and my personal favorite Song Smith!
 
Certainly there'd be no guarantee, but it's been just over 4 years since Gibson acquired Cakewalk, and Cakewalk has lost market share during that time.  Sure there's the loyal users like us who love the product, but in this market you are not going to thrive unless you really exploit that.  Gibson owning both Tascam and Cakewalk really never seemed to materialize any new installs, but then again Tascam is struggling in sales as a company.
 
The best decision that I've seen from Cakewalk as far as market penetration was availability on Steam market place.  That was a brilliant move and they are the only major DAW to make themselves available that way.  The worst has been making it available for OSX which seems like a losing proposition, and would at most only keep a few of their own customers who want to stay on Sonar but use a Mac.  I just don't see them being competitive against Logic X, Cubase, PT, and even S1 on the Mac platform.
 
 
I see Sonar falling into irrelevancy, at least as far as overall market perception, and I think that MS is really the only company that could bring it back to relevance.  Would there be a risk?  Yeah for certain, but no more in my mind than when Gibson bought them.
 
 

Certainly there'd be no guarantee, but it's been just over 4 years since Gibson acquired Cakewalk, and Cakewalk has lost market share during that time.  Sure there's the loyal users like us who love the product, but in this market you are not going to thrive unless you really exploit that.  Gibson owning both Tascam and Cakewalk really never seemed to materialize any new installs, but then again Tascam is struggling in sales as a company.
 
This is my take as well.
I was all excited about the potential of an integrated Tascam/Cakewalk system like Pro Tools has with Avid consoles. Tascam is certainly capable of building a system and with their past history of bringing more afordable products to home studios they would be perfect. But, nothing has happened, they are coasting along with nothing new to show other than you now get Sonar with a Tascam product instead of Cubase. 
 
I've been a big Tascam fan over the years but like all things acquired by Gibson I guess they are under some sort of restrictive management which I guess will someday soon result in it going complexly under. The more I read about Gibson the less I think that they will survive. 
 
When they took over Garrison guitars they would not honor the lifetime warranty and then they closed the factory after a very short time and a lot of local people were now out of work. A lot of Garrison owners were not to happy with Gibson.   But they say the market for guitars is fading.
 
I read an article by the owner of Gruhn Guitars and he commented how the guitar market always followed the popular guitar hero of the time and there are just no more guitar heros on the radio. In other words, the popularity of electronic music has killed the market for traditional instruments like guitar, Bass and drums. Look at the age of all the stilll touring bands! They are older than me and I'm old.... 
 
He also mentioned companies like Gibson and Fender could not compete in this modern market and the quality was declining as price points fall. The guitar factories which are all robots now, are making too many guitars and most go for a huge discount just to keep the companies afloat. It's a quickly shrinking market. So my take is if they all stopped building tomorrow it would take a long time before we ran out of guitars to pass around. 
It is to be noted that Taylor guitars are the exception and they continue to grow. But I guess they found a market with the high end market of  baby boomers on good pentions who can afford a $5,000 guitar. 

I read that article as well, very good but sad commentary on the modern music scene.  Clapton is in his 70's, Eddie Van Halen is an AARP memeber, etc.  Yeah there's really nobody on the current scene under the age of 30 that is attracting kids to buy a guitar.
 
Agreed on Tascam, what could have been.  In this market if you don't execute you are not going to survive.  The folks at Presonus had a major setback when their headquarters was flooded last year in the heavy rains, and they came out with 5 or 6 new products this past year having a remarkable recovery.  Meanwhile it seems like Tascam is watering the lawn while the house is burning down!
 
As I said this is all coming to a head next year, so keep your ear to the wall.  I hope this all works out and am keeping a hope for a good outcome for the bakers, because they work their butts off, I just feel that Gibson has really squandered their opportunities with this company.

I hope Microsoft buys Cakewalk and turns it into the Windows version of Logic. There are a number of people getting pissed at Apple and are looking for alternatives. If Microsoft worked more on their audio drivers and had a DAW like Cakewalk available, I’m sure a lot of people would switch.

Humph. Can you imagine:
"MSDAW had been updated, without your knowledge or permission. There are no rollbacks. If it doesn't work it's obviously a user fault"