joden
I would appreciate them not trying to be so "buddy-buddy" about it, as if all of us (users) and all of them were somehow part of one big "family" all looking out for each other.

So you want us to lie. Duly noted. 
 
You are certainly free to exempt yourself from being part of a family where everyone looks out for each other. Those who do feel like part of a family will continue to do so. 
 
Cakewalk is tiny part of Gibson. Cakewalk could fall off the earth tomorrow and it wouldn't make one iota of difference to Gibson Brands, except after the people at corporate eventually realized that it had fallen off the earth, it would make life easier because it would be one less division to track. Anyone who thinks that the profit motive was Gibson's reason for acquiring Cakewalk knows absolutely nothing about business. Even if Cakewalk was the biggest software company in the music industry its contribution to Gibson Brands' bottom line would still be negligible.
 
This is me speaking - not Cakewalk, not Gibson - but it's incredibly sad that people are so cynical they can't accept that a company truly believes that the only pathway to true success is to have happy customers. To think that Gibson and Cakewalk are simply out to "get" their users flies in the face of everything that's happened since X3 was introduced.
 
And I'm not even going to get into how much good Gibson has brought to the world through the Gibson Foundation, which does charitable work around the world and whose administrative costs are borne completely by Gibson, not the Foundation. When you buy something from Gibson Brands you are buying clean water for African children, helping cancer victims, those fighting muscular dystrophy, the blind, MusiCares, and a whole lot more...all because Gibson's CEO thinks it's important to give back. And he won't even talk it up because he's doing it to give back, not get credit. He might even chastise me for this rant if he sees it.
 
Some people do give a damn.
 
 
 

Dismissing the confusion (skepticism?) among potential buyers as "negativity" is intellectually dishonest. There is no clear contract to either buy or enforce if it is not clear what the meaning of "lifetime" and "core" are in the offer. I do not for one moment believe that there is any kind of scam intended here by Cakewalk. These guys are not intending to take your money and fly to Brazil, but there is a considerable amount of ambiguity that is lending itself to misinterpretation. The few explanations from official sources that have been forthcoming have been instantly buried deep in the bowels of the forum cacophony. Someone accountable at Cakewalk should put together a FAQ for the offer that addresses the legitimate concerns expressed in this and other threads.
 
SuperDan is raising an interesting point that I have been wondering about as well.
http://forum.cakewalk.com/FindPost/3427905
 
For some buyers at least, part of the price they were willing to pay, was in expectation that they would be receiving something other than bug fixes and "core" features over the course of a membership. A new Platinum member receives some valuable instruments for example. Those I assume are not "core" features. Someone who bought an upgrade from Producer version to the current Platinum in the last couple of months will apparently (another question) be required to pay an upgrade to the lifetime update at the full $199.00 price. Most of the non-core effects or instruments he received will have been carried over from his X3 Producer version. He may have expected that he would receive additional non-core goodies for the full 12 months. If everyone buying a lifetime upgrade will no longer be receiving any non-core products, then buying the upgrade may represent a downgrade and a loss of his expected value for his investment at least for the year he has paid for, but not yet received. This is hinted at in the $99.00 credit applied for the cost of a lifetime service upgrade for those who currently have an unexpired subscription, but apparently only for those who are on their second consecutive subscription or possibly only for those who subscribed when it was first offered or during an undefined grace period (another question) thereafter. For someone in the 199.00 upgrade category, who was expecting some goodies, and who does not take advantage of lifetime support, does his current unexpired membership actually lose value?
 
The expectation of those goodies was clearly not something that Cakewalk has done anything to dampen. The fact is that they remained undefined for the most part, and were part of a "trust us great things are coming" marketing communication, that in no way constitutes an enforceable contract. It does however ask for an unusual degree of customer trust to expect them to buy a pig in a poke. Will everyone be receiving non-core goodies until his membership expires, at which time the lifetimers will only get core features and the others will get nothing (expired membership) or will everyone henceforth only be getting core features? Of course, never having been promised  a list of specific non-core goodies, their failure to materialize will be impossible to evaluate from the customer position. I have seen no indication that Cakewalk intends to fork the Platinum distribution, providing non-core goodies for those who decline the lifetime support upgrade until their current year expires, so I assume that henceforth everyone will get the same Platinum for the duration of their subscription, including non-core goodies (another question) presumably with monthly or annual subscribers being offered one time downloads of non-core goodies as an incentive to renew, which lifetimers would have to buy separately on the model of the TV cable introductory offers available to new customers only. It would only take a few carefully written sentences in an easily located web page to clarify this.
 
Is it being negative or paranoid or disloyal to ask for clarification before buying?

Anderton

bapu
The annual Platinum with all bells and whistles is NOT going away. 

Well, unless everyone signs up for the lifetime updates . At that point the annual thing will become obsolete because no one will be on it!

Excellent point. I could be the rebel, ya?

I bought Fruity Loops in 1995, or sometime around there, with Lifetime Updates.  Splat  is my primary DAW but I just updated, for free,  to Fl Studio 12.  Image-line is still making money and developing their software.  Customers are happy and the product keeps getting better.  Stop the HATING and let Cakewalk handle their business.  Just my $.02. 

guitars53
I agree with you. Sounds like a rip off. This may be the last straw. I've been a Cakewalk user for many, many years. But it may be time to make a change. Studio One maybe. Anyway, very frustrated after all the years of my loyalty.

Sorry, but ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
 
Tell us who you really work for