Hamid - You have hit the nail squarely on the head! I really want a software package that needs no 'support' or guarantees because it is so intuitive and simple to use a newbie could run it in less than a few hours...
The ideal system would let the engineer create his/her schematic pass it off to me and I could then layout the board, and transfer the database to the local board shop that could automatically create the tools they need to make the board without having to do a whole bunch of research. No fuss, no muss. Front to back simple... That's what makes it attractive. That should be their goal... not to copy the nightmares of the other software vendors... and the mistakes of the past. Enhancements should not break the features of the previous versions... they should enhance, make the job easier, more productive or more capable... Documentation should match the rev of the release... not 3 revs back... like it has lagged in previous releases. I think as cad vendors they want a package that they can support and get revenue from... At least that seems to be the Mentor/Cadence model... I have seen a lot of folks reconsider the high end tools because of the cost of ownership, training and maintenance... But we want to get our work done with less hassle and less effort and as little cost as possible. It seems we are at odds with the suppliers. Bill Brooks - KG6VVP PCB Design Engineer, C.I.D.+, C.I.I. Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510 Datron World Communications, Inc. _______________________________________ San Diego Chapter of the IPC Designers Council Communications Officer, Web Manager http://dcchapters.ipc.org/SanDiego/ http://pcbwizards.com -----Original Message----- From: Bagotronix Tech Support [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, May 19, 2005 9:26 AM To: Protel EDA Discussion List Subject: Re: [PEDA] Have you all heard the latest DXP upgrade news? > Brad Velander wrote: > >> My comments about the support of the core tools is based upon what I >> am seeing recently on the DXP forum. Their support people seem to be >> keyed on supporting and improving the core tools, along with the other >> tools as well. Even rather special circumstances are getting attention >> and not just the usual, "Well it was not meant/intended to work that >> way....". >> > I have been monitoring that list for the last few weeks when I started a > project in DXP/2004. After a couple of days of mostly doing schematics > and simulation, I decided to once again pass on DXP/2004 and stick with > 99SE for the schematic/layout because I felt it was a better package > overall. > > Back to the point. Yes, Altium does seem to answer questions on that > list, but that does not say much. What have they done to actually > improve the PCB and SCH? Yes, they have made plenty of changes, but > every change is not automatically an improvement -- many changes are > useless fluff while many others actually make the software less useable. > Altium's main focus now is the FPGA stuff. They want to produce a > software that does everything even though it does nothing well. Having > a common user interface between all the different things means that the > interface is not optimized for anything. As they delve deeper and > deeper into the FPGA area, they will necessarily need to nutter the PCB > and SCH in order to maintain uniformity across the product line. In the > end, the PCB and SCH will get so cumbersome that in real performance it > will be at the level of a $1,000 packages. Sure you are paying $11K for > the product, but you are getting only $1K worth of what you want and > $10K of junk that you neither need nor will ever use. > > That is why, like you, I am in the market for something better. The > problem is that I have not yet found anything that is better than 99SE > for most of the stuff I do. > > Let me leave you with one final thought about Altium's customer support. > You consider Altium to have great support. Would you rather work with a > company that has a large number of customers enthusiastic about its > great customer support, or one whose customer support quality is unknown > because no one ever needs to use the customer support? In other words, > having a reputation for having great customer support is a serious check > mark against the quality of the company's product. > > Regards, > > Hamid ____________________________________________________________ You are subscribed to the PEDA discussion forum To Post messages: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe and Other Options: http://techservinc.com/mailman/listinfo/peda_techservinc.com Browse or Search Old Archives (2001-2004): http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] Browse or Search Current Archives (2004-Current): http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
