I am a few short months away from retiring from my IT job.
I have used cakewalk since the dos days but have never really gotten very far with it.
I had big plans to start tackling the learning curve, but my plans have been destroyed.
Geez, all of those updates and Scott Garrigus books.

What version of Sonar do you have?

I have sonar platinum, lifetime member. I also have some older versions including version 8 on a DVD that I am occasionally using. It just looks like keeping platinum installed and authorized may be more trouble than it's worth for me.
I have signed up for the Panu and Bapu forums.
I am also going to look into seeing about the installer files or downloading them. I have never deleted any from my computer, don't really know where they are.
I am an Okie but I have a lot of Boston ties and I have always liked the fact that cakewalk is based in Boston.

I also have Sonar 8 on an XP machine, plus Home Studio 6XL. If my copy of Professional ceases to work in the future I plan on using those as a back up while I learn a new DAW.

Why won't Sonar Platinum work anymore? Will my PC say ewwww? Will everything stop and I can't record anymore? Will my playing cease? Am I out of business? Everything looks and sounds ok.
 
 
I don't see or hear any problems coming up that I can think of

Have a look upstairs. There's a post that says we will get a patch that will allow us to reinstall without needing the servers. That means if you love Sonar, it should be good for some time. Have a coffee and chill.
 
I thought you left Bill? And strangely, it was right before the hammer fell. 
 
What did Bill know, and when did he know it? We'll need to appoint a special council to investigate. 

After seeing a post in the sonar forum, I checked and I have the install files for x3 and the x3e patch. I am so far down on the learning curve that x3 would be a good fall back if  Platinum gets too complicated to maintain. I understand that there is going to be a patch for the platinum but yes I am a worrier. If I have a problem installing on a new machine in 2 or 3 years I could be out of luck getting any support.
 
 
 

JohnoL
I am a few short months away from retiring from my IT job.
I have used cakewalk since the dos days but have never really gotten very far with it.
I had big plans to start tackling the learning curve, but my plans have been destroyed.
Geez, all of those updates and Scott Garrigus books.

John, I'm a few years away from retirement, but I understand you feeling. However, chin up! You have choices despite this downturn. Nothing is keeping you from what you set out to do.
 
You can take your computer off the internet so it remains virus and update free. Since you already have a stable working version of Sonar, it will hopefully run quite a while without an issue. I have an old Dell computer still running XP pro that I have dedicated to GigaStudio. Kontakt 5 has obliterated most of my need for it, but it still works fine. I'm not sure how many years old it is.

 
You can invest in a new DAW and spend part of your retirement learning that, if you feel the need to remain competitive. The truly nice thing is that you will have the time to do just that and probably much more.
 
Your retirement is far from ruined, dear sir. Challenges for you? Maybe, but nothing insurmountable. All this is happening now, at the beginning of your retirement. You wouldn't have liked to see this happen in a year and a half, right?

ampfixer
 
What did Bill know, and when did he know it? We'll need to appoint a special council to investigate. 

I sense collusion. 
I heard that Bill was trying to build hotels in Boston.

Listen Man, this dream you have is real. "xMix is a cool DAW name...Beyond  Cakewalk" -s