So what does this mean for you, our loyal customers...

Noel's post states: "So what does this mean for you, our loyal customers who've been with us all these years? Cakewalk's servers will continue to operate, you will still have access to all of your online assets, and your software will continue to work normally. A dedicated team has been established during this transition period to continue to serve the Cakewalk community."
 
What does this mean?... This is a non answer.  The answer we all want to know is what's going to happen to the software.
 
Sold to another company?  Open sourced?  Killed entirely?
 
We want to know!!!.  I just re-up'd for a 'lifetime' renewal.  How laughable is that?
 
It sounds like there's still some activity at CW central.  How about some answers?

There is a very long thread here which covers these topics. My main concern is that they sort out product activation and fast.
 
 I keep hearing the word "loyal" here, the implication is that this is somehow important ... it isn't.

We don't have to answer them. Most need to be put in Software or the coffeehouse. This forum is for help with Sonar issues and it's been kinda overwhelmed with anything but.  Oh well. it is what it is. 

Yep Thanks Noel. I know you're in a tough bind. I hope you personally come out on top.
Maybe Cakewalk can survive and become a lean small company. Tracktion was able to do it. Hears hoping
Cakewalk can.
 

I have not posted here in the past, but Noel (if you are still reading): My father bought me Cakewalk 1.2 on a generic PC when I was 13 years old, back in 1988.  At least I think that was the year.  I ran it on a monochrome monitor with a resolution of, what, 280x400?  The program functionality was pretty basic, but controlling a keyboard via a computer interface was the most incredible thing I had ever seen.  And making my first midi recording with that software is one of my greatest childhood memories.  I can still see the "Cakewalk" splash screen in my head, in blocky, low-res, amber text.
 
I was a weekend hobbyist then, and I am weekend hobbyist now (I ended up going into law rather than music).  But I continued to buy Cakewalk programs through the years, updating whenever I could afford it.  And I loved all of them.  And I have so many pleasant memories of my time with this DAW that I wanted to reach out and thank you and everyone else on the Cakewalk team for all of your work.  It was a privilege to dig into the program and the VST's and discover all of the new ways that each iteration could manipulate sound.  It must have taken an incredible body of talent to put it all together, and you should all be very, very proud.
 
I had not played much music in the past year and I only discovered that Cakewalk had ceased operations earlier this evening when I was doing a clean computer install.  And honestly, it left me depressed (strange as that sounds).  The software has been such a big part of my life that I am truly saddened to see it go.  I wanted to reach out and thank the people responsible for it while I still have the chance.
 
Thank you all.  I wish you nothing but the best.   
 
--Hank

Thank goodness.

chris.r
Regardless the financial aspect, those were lifetime updates, not just updates or upgrade. If in future we'll see Cakewalk come back in any form (really hope to see that), that won't be offering any continuity for us lifetime owners, it will be the key of dissapointment. It was "lifetime", there's no way to justify it's loss with any amount of monthly updates. Even if I agree they justified the cost we paid, they won't justify the loss of years of Sonar maintainance, years of working on an up-to-date DAW that we love. That's what we paid for, mainly, when choosing lifetime offer.

I'm still completely and utterly blown away by the number of people who actually believe that "lifetime updates" means for their lifetime instead of the lifetime of the program. It's completely baffling and ignores the most basic common sense. I didn't read the small print when I signed up, but I would quite honestly bet a whole year's earnings on there having been some very precise legal language which specified, unambiguously, what "lifetime updates" meant. Prediction: there was no minimum time frame given, and certainly no mention of the customer's biological lifespan. Get a grip people. 

Sharke, what are you for a poor, mean guy just always degrading people and their feelings? Do you feel better when you put an honest and lyrical argument into the dirt?
 
I know that life time did not mean my life, because maybe I die before Sonar is dead. But I read something in the small print that said something like "... however the product is called", i.e. even a successor product would qualify.

Noel Borthwick [Cakewalk]
 
 
As far as lifetime updates go Cakewalk hadn't offered them since they were discontinued a long time ago since they were a one time promotion. Users who got it when they first came out in 2016 got about 20 monthly updates that more than justified the cost they paid for it. 
 

Alternatively some people bought Platinum / Lifetime in Dec 2016 and didn't even get the 12 months of updates they were entitled to normally irrespective of the lifetime updates offer, so there are also people who didn't get any benefit at all from "lifetime" updates - let's not forget that, eh?
 
Also your " 20 month" people only got that deal because they had already previously paid for a 12 months membership, so in reality they didn't get an "extra" 20 months they got the 12 that they had already paid for plus a few more, depending on their renewal date, so let's not try to make out that people got a reasonable amount of return for paying twice.
 
I'm not suggesting that this is your fault personally, but I do think people were entitled to expect a lot more than they actually got given the promises made, so please don't try to make out that it was generally a fair deal, especially given that the same people are now left in limbo re the future usability of what they have paid for. Yes I have read the official statements and also all of yours and whilst I believe that you are sincere in what you say, I also can't say that I really blame people who are maybe sceptical of CW "promises" now.
 
IMO it does you no favours to try and play the lifetime thing down. Better to just hold your hands up and then try to make it better somehow.
 
It's great that you are doing what you can to keep us updated and I genuinely hope that the positive outcome you allude to comes to fruition. I'm still using platinum and will do so until that becomes impossible, so despite the above comments count me as on your side.

eph221

sharke

marled
Sharke, what are you for a poor, mean guy just always degrading people and their feelings? Do you feel better when you put an honest and lyrical argument into the dirt?
 
I know that life time did not mean my life, because maybe I die before Sonar is dead. But I read something in the small print that said something like "... however the product is called", i.e. even a successor product would qualify.

I'm not "always degrading people at all." I'm just pointing out ridiculousness when I see it. Everyone here is an adult. 
 
Please direct me to this "honest and lyrical argument." I've not seen it yet. 
 
Buying into any "lifetime" offer, regardless of what the product is or who's offering it, is a risk. That's just basic common sense. No company or product is guaranteed to exist in perpetuity. It's hard to take up such an offer sensibly without stopping to consider what might happen if the company goes out of business. 

 
Sharke,
 
When we all become adults we give other adults the benefit of the doubt.  That equates to an assumption that all the adults we encounter have an IQ of 90-110.  We know that's not true, right?  Some adults are smarter and some are stupider.  And then there's the statistic that our IQ's actually go up and down (and therefore the statistic is meaningless) I'm only using it in this context because I think it applies.  The mud pond is a place where all the adults are above average.  No?

I have no idea what those IQ tests mean. I've taken a few during my life and they always seem to show around 140 or so, but I really just think it's because I'm good at the particular kinds of puzzles and questions they have in them. In the real world, certain situations or conversations leave me feeling decidedly dumb and I often don't "get" stuff. I have a friend who scored 120 on the same test I took and I swear, there is no shadow of a doubt he is more intelligent than me. 
 
Having said that, I'm a stickler for basic common sense and it shocks me to realize how little of it there is in the world. 

sharke

marled
Sharke, what are you for a poor, mean guy just always degrading people and their feelings? Do you feel better when you put an honest and lyrical argument into the dirt?
 
I know that life time did not mean my life, because maybe I die before Sonar is dead. But I read something in the small print that said something like "... however the product is called", i.e. even a successor product would qualify.

I'm not "always degrading people at all." I'm just pointing out ridiculousness when I see it. Everyone here is an adult. 
 
Please direct me to this "honest and lyrical argument." I've not seen it yet. 
 
Buying into any "lifetime" offer, regardless of what the product is or who's offering it, is a risk. That's just basic common sense. No company or product is guaranteed to exist in perpetuity. It's hard to take up such an offer sensibly without stopping to consider what might happen if the company goes out of business. 

What is RIDICULOUS to me, is when people post on this forum although they are not really interested in Sonar anymore. And sometimes I doubt if everyone here is an adult!

Common sense? I totally agree with you that is something that is missing in today's world, just look at the behaviour of most of the software! I think the reason for that are high school and universities (seriously). There youngsters are only filled up with rules, theories and shallowness, so that they forget about common sense.
 
Marcel

marled
Sharke, what are you for a poor, mean guy just always degrading people and their feelings? Do you feel better when you put an honest and lyrical argument into the dirt?
 
I know that life time did not mean my life, because maybe I die before Sonar is dead. But I read something in the small print that said something like "... however the product is called", i.e. even a successor product would qualify.

Because facts are more important than "feelings".

Somebody wrote "Sir you are entitled to your own opinion, but you aren't entitled to your own facts."

And:
"Poor" "Mean" " "Always degrading people"

Really?
Go and take a good look in the mirror.