My question is, was Cakewalk aware Gibson was going to toss the company when Cakewalk was offering a lifetime subscription to their software for $200 bucks for existing users? 

You mean that old who new what when?
 
Prolly not. maybe so.
 
Either way we got ARA Tempo extraction so I'm happy.

I doubt they had a crystal ball to say that. you think about events in your life.. say you go into work 1 day, and your boss says he's closing down.. not like you yourself could predict that.
they were probably of the mind they could turn it around, but it's few divisions, not just cakewalk they own.
 
I don't think they would *KNOWINGLY* (that's the important word)  or maliciously intended to "do over" end users.
I'm not a fan of avid, how they treated the staff at Sibelius.. but that seem very planned.
 
this is coming from someone who isn't a fan of the joke pricing cakewalk offered me on upgrade btw. so I think I'm a bit un-biased.
 
I've been stung by NI and camel audio already, and avid's "none support" after they took over m-audio ..  so that has made me wary of pro audio companies

 I had my suspicions.  
Lifetime updates?
makes no sense.
Currently Waves is practically giving away plugins that used to be so expensive.  i think something is going on there too. maybe a completely new line of plugins that will be expensive, that make their existing plugs old news or obsolete?
suspicious.

If I recall correctly a lot of us who got the Lifetime Updates got them for around $99.
I got mine on May 24, 2016.
I would have paid around the same or more when my subscription would have lapsed in Jan 2017 when I would have renewed.
So I really don't see the basis for a gripe.
If you're still feeling paranoid - roll a fat one, light it up and go watch the X-Files.
 

It was for the lifetime of Sonar, so they didn’t lie...

mmarton
It was for the lifetime of Sonar, so they didn’t lie...

I thought it was for the USERS lifetime ? Maybe I misremembered, but I thought I paid $200 or $199 for it last year. *shrug*

Nice hat! :)

Well I still have the infinity symbol on my membership... :) 
 

Yes, but time as far as Cakewalk is concerned, time has stopped