Gibson is not alone. Corporate America runs on credit.

It's frightening how many multi-million dollar companies are in debt. Acquisitions are being made with borrowed money in the hopes of paying off down the road.

The U.S. economy runs on consumer spending and most consumers are already heavily in debt.

This whole system is ripe for an implosion.

Voda La Void

I didn't even know what Fruity Loops was...because I wasn't remotely interested...because it was called Fruity Loops.   
 

It's worth remembering that you are only one data point however. If Fruity Loops as a name was putting people off then it wouldn't have grown to be one of the most successful DAWs.

I mean it's clearly aimed at younger producers into beat based music, as opposed to old geezers playing the blues. And young aspiring beat based producers are driving sales of DAWs. So having a name which is more likely to appeal to young people than old people isn't exactly a problem. For what it's worth I think the genius of FL is that it comes across as a light hearted, fun way to make music, and that attracts the kids. But once they get into it, it's actually a very capable DAW that is more than enough to make professional, radio ready tracks.

 
It doesn't really matter, the end is obviously near.  (See proof above.)

You gotta be kidding me...Did a mod really delete my entire post on what went wrong with Cakewalk?  Damn, the program and company may be dead but it's great to see the mod's skins are as thin as ever.

Although possible, more likely their spam bot, Askimet, did and a mod will be able to get it back.

fireberd
I don't think Sonar is/was as popular as we would like to believe.  As I talked to others in recording I was the only one using Sonar.  
 
The Gibson acquisition as it appears didn't do it any favors.  Face it, a company doesn't dump something if its profitable and maybe even marginally profitable.  Finally, Gibson appears to want to get on the consumer electronics bandwagon and I would be surprised if other brands they have go the way of Sonar or get sold off.

Agreed for the most part. I doubt that Sonar was that big, or that any DAW, for that matter, is really that big, and not just a lot of hot air by many magazines that are also owned by the same company to make their product look bigger and better. Specially in America, people think that the product is bigger and better if you see big adverts for it. Or better yet, put in a half nekkid something and everyone looks! 
 
The whole Gibson thing is a different issue altogether. Before the "corporatization" of America, almost all of the music business was "local" and had its roots on many individuals that did their work by themselves. When the big companies started buying things out (still happening), the idea is to take away the competition, so you knew right off that if Gibson bought Sonar or Pub.lic.something.or.other, that they would eventually would close down one of them to concentrate their efforts and save money on the number of employees. Sonar was/is expandable because there are so many other DAW's out there, and you can get some real cheap and even some that are free on the net ... thus, the ability of Sonar to stand up and be counted, gets dropped even further down the tub of gook'y green mush!
 
Which happened.
 
Why are we surprised?
 
We have voted to turn America all corporate, and made sure that one of the biggest guys in that corporate rip offs and manipulation of moneys, is in the big white house somewhere! And then we complaint about Sonar being gone ... heck, this all started way back when, but they tried to break AT&T and you know what they said? ... no worries ... we'll see you down the line again, and you won't stand a chance. And no one does. The company is "above the law" and no one can do anything about it, including Congress and the House ... 
 
The corporate model is a money drain for local businesses ... you pay for the goods and the profit goes out of town ... why are you supporting another town or company, and ignoring your locals friends and neighbors? Who are you selecting to represent you? Someone else to take your pee for you?