ampfixer
Says the guy that helped put Gibson and Cakewalk together.

We don't need to be hard on Craig, he certainly couldn't have predicted how poorly Gibson would manage things (although they didn't have a good track record already, but Craig wasn't an Executive Vice President of Gibson yet, so I would like to think the best of his predictive powers that he couldn't have foreseen the business issues at that point). Although one might have seen red flags with Gibson's handling of Opcode, but maybe Craig forgot about that. Also keep in mind that lots of people put the Gibson and Cakewalk deal together, plus Cakewalk was losing money for years and years, there are numbers back from the 2010 era that show a pretty rough outlook. So Cakewalk was having a lot of troubles, and I'm not so sure Gibson could have saved them even if they knew what they were doing, which they obviously didn't. So it's easy to blame with 20/20 hindsight, and it doesn't get us anywhere productive. Craig was just trying to save Cakewalk at the time. Can't help it if he couldn't predict the future. If anything, going to Gibson might have been just the lucky break Cakewalk needed before Meng and BandLab came along. Who knows?
 
EDIT: And also BTW, Craig was, as you may recall, fired from Gibson, so he definitely can't be blamed for what happened at the end. As far as we know, he could have been one of the few sane voices over there. In an interview, he describes working at Gibson as "stressful" and like "white water rafting" -- not exactly a stable environment for Cakewalk. At least Gibson gave it a shot, so we have to give them a little credit, but they were obviously not the right partner for Cakewalk. Here's to hoping that Meng/BandLab will continue to have the passion to help Cakewalk thrive in the years to come.

BenMMusTech
Social media is a problem...but only if you don't understand all the mechanisms. 

And therein lies the problem: we don't understand all the mechanisms.
 
I like to think I'm a tech-savvy guy. I build databases for a living, and design data-mining applications. But there are no doubt a great many mechanisms out there that I know nothing about. Legit businesses such as banks, lenders and retailers (physical and virtual) that sell your information. Smartphone apps that can copy your address book and send spam to all your friends. You don't have to knowingly volunteer information to have it disseminated.

Wait, what? We have to give them our credit card number for something that's free?
Shades of Netflix's (and others) 'Free' trials.
 
What would I gain going from X3e to CbB? Or, which of the stickies has that info?

BTW, BandLab's privacy policy is here. It's pretty straightforward and easy to understand. Some extracts regarding how your information will be used:
 

To provide personalised Content to you and others such as Followers and Band Members or other interest segment updates, personalised online advertisements or other forms of marketing

 

 We only collect and use Information for purposes for which you have consented. If we need to use your Information for any purpose to which you have not previously consented, we will seek your consent prior to using your Information for the new purpose.

 

We may share your Information with the following parties:
a) “Related Entities” of BandLab Singapore Pte Ltd: These are businesses that are legally part of the same group of companies that BandLab Singapore Pte Ltd is part of, or that become part of that group.
b) “Service Providers”: These are our agents or third party contractors of. We engage them to assist us in providing and managing aspects of the Services, such as developing the Services’ features and functionality, marketing, processing payments, processing data or statistics, hosting Content, providing server space, reviewing Content for compliance with our Terms of Use, and legal advice.
c) “Third Party Advertisers”: We may provide Information to Third Party advertisers so that they can notify you of events or products which may be of interest to you. For instance, you may be notified of an upcoming concert or product release.
d) Analytics Services: We may use third party analytics providers and products to obtain, compile and analyse Information (including but not limited to, information from cookies, log files, device identifiers, location data, and usage data), and may provide such Information to these analytics providers for the purpose of obtaining statistics and other information about how Users are using and interacting with the Services.
e) We may remove parts of data that can identify you and share anonymised data with other parties. We may also combine your information with other information in a way that it is no longer associated with you and share that aggregated information.

 

We may change or update portions of this Privacy Policy at any time and without prior notice to you.

 
One weasel-word I don't see in there is "affiliates". This is the loophole that allows my bank to sell my data to third parties. 
 

57Gregy
Wait, what? We have to give them our credit card number for something that's free?
Shades of Netflix's (and others) 'Free' trials.

No credit card required to set up an account.
 

57Gregy
What would I gain going from X3e to CbB? Or, which of the stickies has that info?

4 years of bug fixes and new features
 

Skyline_UK

Larry Jones

bitflipper

...I understand a lot of older people have this innate mistrust and/or hatred of social media

That's because we old people are the last generation to have experienced both worlds: before and after social media. Younger people have no basis for comparison. They are far less likely to value privacy, because they've grown up in a world where it never existed. In another generation everyone will know everything about everyone else, and it'll be viewed as completely normal.
 

This is, in fact, Mark Zuckerberg's stated objective for Facebook.

Yes, and I wonder if the twerp really believes his own nonsense?  Why on earth would I want, or need to be, 'connected' to everyone else in the world???? I prefer the old fashioned extreme robber barons with their fat bellies, waistcoats and gold fob watches, at least they didn't slyly cloak their intentions in silicon valley pseudo-mankind-benefits hogwash.  Although the towering arrogance of both types are equally revolting.

The twerp may or may not believe his own BS, but either way the "belief" is very good for his company. It's hard for me to accept, though, that every time Facebook gets caught losing or sharing or selling data we thought was to remain private, Zuckerberg and Sandberg are shocked, shocked! that this could have happened, they had no idea, they were so wrong and they sincerely apologize to their users for this (latest} perversion of their altruistic philosophy, and they are taking steps to correct the mistake. But nobody gets fired and a year or two later they are caught again doing the same thing. It's a big company, filled with software developers. They know exactly what they're doing. When they -- or any big, free, online service -- pretend otherwise, they are lying.
 
As users, we need to understand that. As more and more powerful data-gathering methods are invented and deployed, the notion of personal privacy becomes a house of mirrors. Give up your secrets when and where you want, but don't kid yourself: your information is being used, and not for your benefit.

bitflipper
BTW, BandLab's privacy policy is here. It's pretty straightforward and easy to understand. Some extracts regarding how your information will be used:
 
***********************SNIP****************************
 
One weasel-word I don't see in there is "affiliates". This is the loophole that allows my bank to sell my data to third parties. 
 

 I haven't read many of these, but this one seems pretty much like the ones I have. Don't read too much into the words that are left out. I'm not knocking Bandlab, just being real about what they are most likely up to. And even if their intentions are not sinister (I assume they're not) they will gather a trove of good data about their users, and that data will become a target for hackers, advertisers and others (use your imagination). 

Larry Jones

bitflipper
BTW, BandLab's privacy policy is here. It's pretty straightforward and easy to understand. Some extracts regarding how your information will be used:
 
***********************SNIP****************************
 
One weasel-word I don't see in there is "affiliates". This is the loophole that allows my bank to sell my data to third parties. 
 

I haven't read many of these, but this one seems pretty much like the ones I have. Don't read too much into the words that are left out. I'm not knocking Bandlab, just being real about what they are most likely up to. And even if their intentions are not sinister (I assume they're not) they will gather a trove of good data about their users, and that data will become a target for hackers, advertisers and others (use your imagination). 

It was obvious from the get go that Google and the later Anti-Social Media iterations, are fundamentally intelligence operations operating under a commercial facade. In another generation They hope to know everything about everybody else. Full spectrum dominance. Total control. You can thank them for your president. 
 
Zappa had something to say about freedom, something to the effect : how it is a show that is kept rolling as long as it is profitable, when the show is over and the canvas rolls up ... your staring into a brick wall.
Just my 2 cent.

ampfixer
snip ... They have no responsibility to me in any way. If my Cakewalk purchased stuff stops working they don't have to help me. They are a completely new and un-tethered entity.
 
Fair enough. But why am I being coerced into a relationship with this new company in order to use the goods I bought from the company that is now gone.snip ... This does not prevent me from using the Cakewalk software I have paid for, but Bandlab now says I have to go through them to do so. I want nothing to do with Bandlab really, it's not my thing, I don't do social media.

I believe your interpretation of the situation is incorrect.
 
Sometime before December, 2017 you purchased a software program called Sonar from a company called Cakewalk.  Cakewalk required you to install a file manager application called Command Center to manage installation of your Cakewalk software products by requiring online authentication.  Gibson paid for the computer servers that ran the Cakewalk authentication process and the forum.
 
When Cakewalk ceased sales and operation the Chief Technical Officer of Cakewalk, Noel, stated Gibson would continue to maintain the computer servers indefinitely.  Continued server operation allowed the command center application to authorize new or re-installs of legacy software products that require online authentication during installation.  This also allowed user provided support of legacy products to continue through the forum.
 
When Bandlab purchased the Cakewalk assets, computer server operation switched from Gibson to Bandlab.  The switch was seamless so that's it.  Nothing changed except who operates and pays for the computer servers.  Gibson use to but now Bandlab does.  Your legacy software still has access to online authentication and the forum is still available to offer user provided support.  End of THAT story.
 
New story.  Bandlab decides to release the software program formerly named Sonar Platinum. The new name is Cakewalk by Bandlab.  You can obtain Cakewalk by Bandlab by installing the software file manager called Bandlab Assistant.  Bandlab indicates their team will continue Cakewalk by Bandlab development.
 
Related story.  Bandlab has expressed interest in updating drivers for the Cakewalk hardware system VS700.  Bandlab has also indicated it wants to update and release other legacy Cakewalk plug-in products as well as develop new plug-ins.

Leadfoot
The big difference now is that offline Splat users are pretty much out of luck when it comes to updating to CbB...

My problem exactly.
 
But it's early days and lots of things still being sorted out in the lab.