Why chase the competitors when you can take the lead? Tough decision for Cakewalk, but sound and wise for sure.

timidi

ampfixer
Lifetime updates for $199 was a great deal. Period.

 
Lifetime updates and a Native Mac version for $199  was THE deal. Period.
Granted, corporate integrity hasn't been invented yet.
 
Add insult to injury: Sonar Home Studio only. Why even bother?

They only promised an alpha version of Sonar.  Period.  
 
Alpha could have easily meant no saving of projects, no real functionality, etc.  
 
***Also - why is this thread not a sticky?

Lance Riley [Cakewalk]

azslow3
While I do not care about Mac version, there was some hope such development will force to revise core components... And CodeWavers approach means that was not the plan (IMHO correct accoutrement a year ago had to be "we try to run Sonar on Mac" and not "Sonar for Mac". I personally hope to understand why current Sonar does not run on Linux (X2 and X3 do). But I will never call the result "Sonar for Linux").

Part of our decision to do this is to focus more on Windows and keep improving on our core functionality but also to focus on innovating in the Windows space. Continuing to work with CodeWeavers on this version was ultimately going to hinder us from innovating in the Windows space and going fully native would have done so even more. While it was a hard decision to do this I'm excited to get back to what we do best, Make SONAR the best DAW on Windows.

I had to write at the end of my previous post that as most other I see the decision as positive.
Concentration on one platform for sure produce better result on this platform then "side effects" from porting. And (unfortunately) CodeWeavers are (always) significantly behind modern Windows technologies to allow painless running without changes in the source.

We only ever planned an alpha mac version prototype last year. It was clearly mentioned in the announcement that it would be an alpha which is what was released today (some months late).  
To get SONAR running natively at full parity on a Mac is a multi year project with many developers. The codeweavers partnership was a great way for us to test this functionality without investing a huge amount of resources. The app is very functional and can certainly be used for simpler projects and tracking even at this stage. One of our QA folks has even been using it to track his band :)

FogAudio
So I guess I took the bait when I was offered Sonar Pro for life with the promise that Sonar was going to run on a Macbook natively.

 
That is not true.
 
The promise was that an Alpha version would be released for free to SONAR users to test the waters. It was never promised that SONAR would run on a MacBook natively. Cakewalk has done what they said they would do, except for missing the original deadline of making an alpha available before December 21. The waters have been tested, and found wanting for a variety of reasons. 
 

Anyway, guess I'm the sucker now. 

 
The announcement, which was up for at least a couple months, was crystal-clear. Unfortunately, Cakewalk has no control over whether people see it or not.
 

If Mac has a bad name with creatives I haven't heard anything about it except perhaps folks wished for a bit more RAM and speed with last year's batch of MBPr (which is an industry-wide/transistor-shrinking problem).

 
Well, Tim Cook heard it, which is why he said that creative people are important to Apple at a stockholder's meeting to counteract the negativity, and Apple made the unusual move of saying they were going to come up with great new desktops in 2018...although they didn't specify what would make them great, except they'll be "modular" in some way (like the old "cheese grater" desktop towers?), and Apple would be coming up with a new display. 
 
Here's some more evidence of discontent...and this, and this, and this, and this...of course, Apple may turn this around in 2018, but I don't see how it would make sense for a company the size of Cakewalk to bet a huge amount of resources on a platform where there are serious questions about its future viability among the very people who would be potential SONAR customers.

Sucks for the Mac folks, but I consider this a good decision. I also appreciate the straight-forward manner that the information was delivered.
 
So, now that this is out of the way... How long until we receive an update on what's happening with Sonar? Will the Upcoming Features page return? What's the direction?

I don't regularly delve into the inner workings of a software program, especially one as complicated as Sonar, so I hope you'll pardon me for not understanding why we can't have both versions? I CAN understand it not being financially viable. I don't see why this was insurmountable technically when we have several other DAW software companies that did it successfully.
 
Is it the way Sonar was made from the ground up? Apples to oranges kind of thing. If we have a program to merge the two, maybe compatibility was what killed the idea.
 
What makes some competitors software better suited to multi porting? Writing two distinct copies from the ground up? If so, why not write a Mac copy from the ground up? My hunch is that this was very expensive and not really viable in light of sales projections. I had hoped it could be done, even if it was a more simplistic version if only for the sake of having that market open.
 
If you spent most of your life for the last 6 months on this project I'm sure you're way more deflated than the rest of us. I don't use a Mac but I'm sympathetic to those who intended to do so. I really hope some kind of a truce can be reached for those who invested in the software thinking it would be used on Mac. 
 
Where do we go from here?
 
If you really like Sonar why let a platform hold you back?

Well, that's a pity. Guess that ends my Sonar using days. Think I'll still hang around though (unless chucked out), this is one of the best audio related forums there is. And who knows what the future might bring? Since 1990 I've used Amigas, OS/2 PCs, just about every flavour of Windows - for quite a number of years nothing but Windows, Linux and these days exclusively Mac. Who knows, I might end up back with MS for something other than games yet. Just not Win10.

In case anyone's wondering, no I didn't take up the lifetime offer in the hope of a native Mac version. It's been my policy for a bery long time never, ever to invest in vapourware. Things often never work out to plan for even the most competent, diligent and honest software companies. Amongst which I'd include Cakewalk.

Starise
If you really like Sonar why let a platform hold you back?

I treat computers like appliances. Once I open the program, it doesn't matter much which platform it runs from. The biggest issue is if you HAVE to use the Mac for some reason, because what with frequent Windows and Mac updates, there's twice as much maintenance with two platforms.

Unbelievable.
 
Now I have to say: I want my money back. I'm not on Windows at all.
 
How would that work? Any hints from the officials?
 
 
Don't let your trustful customers alone. I's not a good business behaviour by any means. Period.