I remember writing a post here when CAKE announced the Lifetime updates.  It sounded like the beginning of the end and I was pretty much bashed for saying so.
 
There ya go.... I did sign up for the lifetime updates but my gut told me what I wrote above, trying to stay positive.
 
My guess is that CAKE was bleeding cash and they sacrificed the future financial stability of their enterprise to BUY TIME... in that time, I am guessing again, their plan was to release a MAC version of SONAR and hired some company that said it could do it cheaply.  This would have opened a new market for CAKE and save the company.
 
I am more SAD than MAD for the bakers.

jimkleban
My guess is that CAKE was bleeding cash and they sacrificed the future financial stability of their enterprise to BUY TIME...
 

 
That's really quite true. It was basically an internal "go fund me" to create future products. The person who came up with the lifetime updates idea expected the influx of cash (and remember, it was only for Platinum people so it was fraction of the user base) would go into creating compelling add-ons that would more than make up for any lost revenue. But for whatever reason, the idea of in-app purchases was canned, and the only potential add-ons (LP EQ, LP MB, and Adaptive Limiter) were given away for free.
 

in that time, I am guessing again, their plan was to release a MAC version of SONAR and hired some company that said it could do it cheaply.  This would have opened a new market for CAKE and save the company.

 
The Mac version was a "proof of concept" that cost Cakewalk very little. The company got cold feet about supporting it due to the unpredictable nature of the Mac OS, but also, the elephant in the room is of course Logic for $199.
 

I am more SAD than MAD for the bakers.

 
Same here. Fortunately their talents still exist, and will likely surface elsewhere.

jsg
Of course I don't. Gibson sold us out... Why am I not surprised?

OK so your telling me I didn't die and go to DAW hell? LOL
 
Cheers

Anderton

jimkleban
My guess is that CAKE was bleeding cash and they sacrificed the future financial stability of their enterprise to BUY TIME...
 

 
The Mac version was a "proof of concept" that cost Cakewalk very little. The company got cold feet about supporting it due to the unpredictable nature of the Mac OS, but also, the elephant in the room is of course Logic for $199.
 

 
I get that the Mac version was a proof of concept, but what bothered me about chasing that rabbit trail was that it takes focus off your core competencies.  There's an old quote that comes to mind from the late Chuck Jones, the animator and director of most of the old Looney Toons cartoon shows, where he said (paraphrasing) "A pig can never outrun a racehorse, but it can be a really fast pig". 
 
Still I will never understand why Cake was like 4th or 5th in sales on PC, when it's a Windows only DAW.  Cubase, Studio One and I believe even Reaper and possibly FL Studio had a larger install base.  The only recent stats I could see were pre-Gibson, but I can only assume those numbers declined.
 
This despite the fact that Sonar was the first (and best) at supporting touch screen PC's.  Studio One comes close but it's so freakin' glitchy you're better off using the iOS app or mouse/keyboard.  The only DAW besides Bitwig to have full screen mode in Windows.  The only DAW that went with Microsoft's philosophy of using the ribbon bar, instead of the old antiquated top menu system, from the Windows 1.0 days.
 
I know that the bakers had a really good working relationship with the folks at Microsoft, but I never understood why they didn't try to make more out of that relationship, especially when the surface products started to emerge.  It was pretty clear from the beginning of the surface line that Microsoft wanted to be a disruptor in the Apple space and have been pretty darn successful (to the point where Apple is now copying Microsoft with the Apple Pencil and iPad pro), so the one product that could have been Microsoft's answer to Logic for the PC, never seemed to gain any traction.
 

Anderton
But for whatever reason, the idea of in-app purchases was canned,

Studio One has in-app purchases, doesn't it?

jpetersen

Anderton
But for whatever reason, the idea of in-app purchases was canned,

Studio One has in-app purchases, doesn't it?

I don't know what exactly defines 'in-app' but on their start page on the right pane they advertise deals going on.  Cubase does something very similar.  On the Cakewalk installer, I thought there was some adverts on there, I could be wrong.  I mostly just launched the app directly and would occasionally run the updater to see if I needed to download anything.
 
I'm really shocked at CW management killing potential revenue streams.  Not to say they should just agree to everything, but for as rapidly as they were losing market share they needed something to stem the bleeding.