Fl has had lifetime updates from day 1

Not a problem as I got two years for my money so I break even.

I'm not happy about Sonar's demise any more than you, but I figure I would have paid all or most of that "lifetime" money to some other DAW developer in updates along the way, so I'm more or less even in dollar terms.
 
Was Gibson unethical in making the "lifetime" offer, in view of what they probably knew at the time but were not revealing? IMO, yes.
 
But to me the true disaster is the time I've invested in Sonar. Some of that knowledge (the basic concepts) will transfer to my new DAW (Cubase), but not all. Not the specifics. I'll have to learn to walk all over again before I can get up to speed. If I had chosen Cubase from the start, this "Sonar is dead" thing would be just a vague rumble off in the distance.
 
Oh well, crap happens. I'm trying to view it as an opportunity to learn something new.
 
But I'll sure miss Sonar. It was a good ride while it lasted. People will be discussing and debating its demise long after the program has stopped working.

John
FL Studio has had life time updates for as long as I can remember.

That was one of the reasons I decided to skip the Sonar lifetime updates and go with Fl Studio since it was included in the price and didn't have to pay extra. I was able to pick up the signature edition for $178 over at JRR on a sale, so saved a few bucks in the process. I knew Gibson was struggling and smelled a rat with the lifetime updates offer. I also since won a contest over at Imageline and got three free plugins of my choice. I feel they treat their community better with a lot of giveaways. They have one of the largest user bases and I feel a lot more secure with them, and as a big plus, they are not owned by Gibson.

I'm running Windows 7 on an offline computer. I will continue to run Sonar Platinum. I've got Mixbus 4 and 32C as well, but Sonar is going to be my DAW for as long as it runs, which should be a long time.

bsantini99

John
FL Studio has had life time updates for as long as I can remember.

That was one of the reasons I decided to skip the Sonar lifetime updates and go with Fl Studio since it was included in the price and didn't have to pay extra. I was able to pick up the signature edition for $178 over at JRR on a sale, so saved a few bucks in the process. I knew Gibson was struggling and smelled a rat with the lifetime updates offer. I also since won a contest over at Imageline and got three free plugins of my choice. I feel they treat their community better with a lot of giveaways. They have one of the largest user bases and I feel a lot more secure with them, and as a big plus, they are not owned by Gibson.

When was there a sale on it? I've been waiting for it to go on sale

I took the lifetime update and as a result I have the most current version of SONAR PLatinum, which my status says Expiration: (infinity) Status: Owned.... So, since I doubt the few of us that bought the Lifetime Updates significantly altered the income status of SONAR, since apparently few of us took the opportunity, it appears that SONAR was on life-support already and little we did as customers would save it by then.

I was oblivious to the frailty of the company then and only when Craig Anderton split the scene did I realize how much was amiss. I held out hope, though, since the Bakers seemed confident that good things were coming.
 
We were too optimistic.

As a side note, I may have been the last to purchase from the Cakewalk store. I bought the PDF of Anderton's "The Big Book of SONAR Tips" and then waited for my download link in Purchased Products. Before it came, the store was offline with nothing in my Purchased Products (only a few minutes after my purchase). Fortunately the next morning, in my Purchased Products, the book was in the list and a download link was available, which I happily used. 
 

fitzj
Not a problem as I got two years for my money so I break even.

I also got more than I put in.

That was why I never did the lifetime updates. It seemed to me they were trying to get money to pay for the Mac version. In the past under Roland and before I always 2thought Sonar' s upgrades were reasonable, but after the Gibson buyout it just got worse and worse. Paying money for a known upgrade is one thing. Paying for future promises of what was essentially vapor ware is not. I feel bad for the folks that just renewed their subscription. Really Gibson should offer rebates but considering how they run their company, I wouldn't hold my breath.