If you were wondering what this is all really about, it may be a simple balance sheet exercise:
 
"Levered at a rate of 10 times debt to Ebitda, Gibson has $375 million in senior bond debt maturing on Aug. 1, 2018. An additional $145 million in senior bank debt has a springing maturity of June 23, 2018, if the company doesn't manage to refinance the bonds.
 
The Nashville-based company, famous for its Les Paul guitar, has $1.2 billion in revenue annually, according to Moody's, and manufactures brands Gibson, Philips, Epiphone, Kramer, Baldwin, Onkyo, KRK and Stanton."
 
Source: https://www.thestreet.com/story/14280618/1/gibson-guitar-may-default-if-company-can-t-refinance-its-debt.html
 
With a crippling debt load, it could be that Gibson shut down Cakewalk as a debt-management strategy. Writing down CW allows Gibson to state losses on the balance sheet. With half-a-billion in debt due next year or defaulting, Gibson is in a world of hurt (their bond status means they can't get any more loans - they're in deep).
 
Reading this article, and doing the shallowest of dives on Gibson, it appears to be managed at the highest levels by opinion, rather than research or good decision making paradigms. Weirdness abounds.

As a Cakewalk user for 27 years, I am devastated at this news.  I feel like I was sold a bill of goods buying into the lifetime subscription scam. How much is this going to cost me to migrate my production environment to Pro Tools?
 
Will Gibson become known as the place software goes to die?

A lot of peers used to give me a hard time for using Sonar over the years. As a person who has never been a 'sheep' though, I stuck to it as I knew it was a superior DAW for MY needs and a great product overall. At first I was angry hearing this news as I thought about all the money I have invested in the product both recently and over the years and felt like I had been 'taken'.
 
But then I realized how much I actually had GOTTEN from that investment. From remixes that got me (a little) recognition as a decent hobbyist producer to mix tapes and podcast productions that helped me promote my events and my brand, Sonar got me through it all. Before I begin my search for a new DAW, I just want to thank Cakewalk and their team for all their years of great service and their production of a great product line. Yep, even Project 5 :)
 
I hope you all land on your feet. Good luck!

You said the software would continue to work, i have steam edition professional 2016 and it now only works in demo mode. This is hurting my workload, I can't save anything, Please patch this quickly.

SuperG
Folks, the 50% off Cubase crossgrade is now live at Sweetwater - I guess they have somebody there making sure the lights stay on over the Thanksgiving holiday.

Not seeing this on my end?

I'm currently downloading update files through Command Center on Win7x64, seems to be working properly, although slowly.
Should I be doing this? I'm really not a computer savvy person, I don't understand all the technical jargon, moving things around, storing files here and there, etc., etc.
Not a power user, but like many of you, I have purchased EVERYTHING Sonar.
I just want my Platinum to continue working, any advice on what I should be/not be doing is appreciated?

Microsoft! Rescue us Cakewalk, Sonar and Music Creator user! Gibson has pulled the plug. @Microsoft #SAVECAKEWALK
[link=https://www.ipetitions.com/petition/microsoft-please-rescue-cakewalk-and-sonar-out-of]https://www.ipetitions.co...ewalk-and-sonar-out-of[/link]
 
 
We have 391 signatures already.

I've just received a confirmed payment to my monthly subscription ?

What are the legalities? If you are paying it off, you would still have to pay it off to keep it!
Otherwise revert back to last fully paid copy. The Walk are going to be loosing even more money now.

What will stop it from working could be a simple Microsoft update. They aren't going above Windows 10 anymore (supposedly). In the old days, if Windows XP worked, you just kept it going and ran ancient software on it. Some still do. I've chosen to have a very new powerful Windows 10 machine, its update scheme gives you less control, and it only takes some minor changes to do stuff to Sonar that makes it useless. You can try to roll it back, you can try to avoid updates. Eventually if you want a secure machine you have to do the updates, and can delay them only so long. If there is no technician out there changing Sonar just enough to work with a new version of Windows 10, you're screwed. No, I don't want to have two computer systems with one just for music. It is crucial to have easy access to the Internet for various things, and not to have to be porting stuff between computers. Perhaps it would be possible for the laid off (or soon to be) tech folks to congregate, start a shoestring company like Twelve Tone was once, then do just that. JUST let it keep working with Windows 10 updates. NOTHING ELSE - and I'd still pay $100 a year for that. If they're going to eventually make other (install, portability, stability) enhancements, that can still work within that model. What doesn't have to be done is bloatware, or even including one piece of added software - for those of us who have it. Just whatever needed, as existing users, to keep Sonar and bundled plug-ins, running as Windows continues to evolve. That is my core hope.