We do have the basis for a class-action lawsuit.  We were told, in writing, that we "owned" their product.  It was never communicated that we'd only "own" the product if it remained on our current motherboard.  After all, Gibson did try to sell us a "60% off" discount way back on Halloween 2017 (weeks ago).  Attempt to defraud?   I'd think that the time to raise this issue to Gibson is NOW, rather than later.  After all, we are only asking them to modify whatever single .dll file is involved in their "authorization" scheme.  The first step would be to identify the entire list of Sonar "owners", i.e., names and addresses, contact info, email address.
 
At issue here is not the $2,000 or so we have invested in Cakewalk over the years, but what will happen when Sonar is no longer functional, and ALL THE ART WE HAVE CREATED IS NO LONGER ACCESSIBLE!

My feelings are that Class Action suits typically help only the lawyers.    I did get a 49¢ check once. 
 
Paul

First, I had missed this thread - So this was very valuable  and timely info. Thanks Chuck for being one of the few who is on top of things and keeping a clear head. And thanks to those folks who tested the off line activation I was doing the same thing myself and the only test I had not done was the using that code on a different PC. You confirmed what I already suspected , it won't work. Here lies the heart of our problem for that day down the road when we build that nice new DAW. 
 
To post # 61 by Greg. 
 I will use Sonar for another 5-10 years so it was a bargain.   
And as far as loosing your songs? Why, Sonar still works and will work for a long time yet. There are dozens of options. And if it dies there is a million ways to transfer material to other DAW's, You just need to start making a plan.
 
My Atari died back in 2006. Did it ruin my life because I had created 500 songs with it.. no, I still have the midi files and guess what, they still open. But before it died I backed up those files to a IBM formated floppy disk. This was the key step needed at the time--- So this is the same thinking we need right now. 
 
 
I am installing Splat on every computer I have on hand. Why not. I am not breaking the rules. They say no where that you cannot do this, I think it was Niel who said " We will just keep an eye on the amount of installs and questions folks who seem to be a little over the top"
So the rule is not how many computers, it's that Only YOU can use that version.  I don't think my wife or my dog will be using Sonar. Only 2 machines in the end will be working DAW's. The others are saftey back ups. I will not bother installing anything but Sonar. I found you can install all the VST packs and plug ins any time afterwards using the downloads and it does not ask for any serial numbers, it seems to know. Only Stand alones like Dim Pro ask for numbers. 
 
My main DAW I just updated with a new power supply and SSD C drive. 
I installed Widows 8.1 as I beleieve this is the perfect OS for future proofing a PC. No Windows updates that will trash it, just low level maintenance updates just like W7 gets. W7 is another good choice but I think we can buy more time with 8.1. I'm counting on 10 max. 
 
Anyhow I hope they do release this magic code, but my thinking is this will involve one last release of Sonar with the code altered to facilitate this. Sonar as it stands cannot do that. 
 

That is good advice Cactus, and I have already been doing all that backup.  That said, I've also opened up previously created projects from a few years and a few Sonar versions back, and it was a nightmare.  Plugins that were installed, and laboriously set up just so at the time, were not recognized as being present even though they were, etc. etc.  It is theoretically possible to move a project to another DAW (I assume this is true, having not tried it), but I bet you will run into the same problems, and likely much worse, as I have messing with retired projects created in Cakewalk and opened in Cakewalk.  I imagine things might deteriorate down to digging through your Audio folder and trying to piecemeal all those clips back into their proper location in the overall song.  That would suck.
 
Perhaps I am ****ed, but I don't understand the timing.  If they knew they were going to close shop, why didn't they mod the .dll while they still had all the programmers still there?  If they are all gone, how in the world would this ever get done?  I'm a programmer, and can tell you from experience that digging into someone else's code gives you brain damage.
 
Lastly, the likelihood that server will stay up, is about the same as this forum staying up:  zero.

Myself if I lost every plug in that was on an old project it would suit me fine. As I progress so do the tools I use. So the old projects would still be renovated with all new VST's and plug ins anyways.
I guess a big difference between folks here is how some create overly complicated monsters. Yes those types of projects are going to be next to impossible to re create on a different DAW. 
I'd advise you just finish them and move on. A song that is that hard to finish is probably not a great song anyways.. I abandon those I've learned to let go of songs that just an't going anywhere. 
I'm pretty basic in my approach to my songs. I really haven't changed much beyond having a 8 track for audio, my Atari for midi and a rack full of processors.
My MIDI files are where a lot of work goes and those are super easy to move between DAW,s or versions of Sonar.  
If you save a project as a midi 1 file, then when you OPEN it in Sonar or another DAW all the tracks will be labeled so will remind you which VST you used. If those VST's are like AD2, Air and even Dim Pro it takes a few minutes and boom, there your song minus the audio.
The only time consuming  prep work is that before you save as a midi file you need to assign different channels to each instrument. I do this automatically anyhow as a mater of habit from 1984. I'm not sure what happens to midi embedded in an instrument track,, I use midi tracks and a separate instrument track. 
And audio is easy to swap around or in most cases I just re sing or play the part and do a better job of it anyway's :)  
 

I guess CW will release activation codes if/when you need them. Officially or unofficially. In the worse case "other" people will release something for that...
But if that is still your concern, check which projects you can open in X3 and what you loose in case you do. In worse scenario, when you no longer have the PC which can run "that old" Window to run X3, you will be able to run in under Linux/Wine. Both are open source and have all possible version available to download. So current Wine, which runs X3 without problem, can be started on whatever Linux kernel you will need that time (old kernel can have the same problem as Windows, but till now I can not remember any single case when user land Linux program could not be run on whatever later kernel you have).
 
BUT. There is another problem: PLUGINS. And I do not mean CW plug-ins, I mean OTHER PLUGINS. There is absolutely no warranty Waves plugins in 10 years incarnation will work fine in current Sonar. Can you install them on your backup computer and forget? That will "eat" once license. Can you install old versions in 10 years? Questionable.
 

OK, I guess we are completely losing track of what this thread is/was about.

GregGraves
 
Lastly, the likelihood that server will stay up, is about the same as this forum staying up:  zero.

^^^^ That is my biggest concern right there. ^^^^
 
That FAQ message reads something to the tune of.. 
"If the servers go down, we will provide you with an off line activation code".
 
Im curious how they plan on giving us this code if the servers are already down.
Hopefully they will be prepared and give it to use BEFORE the servers go down.
 
Im sure that's exactly what they meant but it sure wasn't written that way. At anytime the plug could be pulled and we could all be sitting here with our cup in our hands. and when I say "cup" I mean something else.
 
Haven't heard a word from this transition crew since last week. People are in a panic and justifiably so.
I don't want my DAW to be used as a paper weight. Im a bit baffled we haven't heard much now since we first heard this news 3 weeks ago.
 

And I don't think there is a one number code that would work over and over. Testing the offline activation process by me a nd a few others here and we soon came to the conclution that the number they issue can only be used once and on the machine you generated the code from. 
So the way Sonar is built right now there is possibly no back door to the unlocking. They will actually have to release one last version that has the currant copy protection changed to the old style 2 number system like X3 and back used. 

The current FAQ reads: "If or when the servers are taken down, we will make sure you have a way to authorize your products without using any of our current online authorization steps. We're working on a mechanism for if this does occur, to ensure our users will not lose functionality moving forward."
 
Is that wording a change from before? I seem to recall it specifically mentioned a "code" of some sort, but now it talks about bypassing current authorization steps. Possibly a good sign? That would suggest to me a patch would be issued that would eliminate the server based authorization process altogether, rather than some sort of permanent unlock code...which suggests they've been looking into the issue and have decided on an approach to the problem...?
 
Either way, at the moment I'm not exactly feeling confident about my ability to keep using Sonar long-term...