Careful and reasoned may win the day but the alternative was veeerry therapeutic ;-)
> > 1) ATS for P99SE is USD$1995 for a $USD7995 product - 25% > Therein lies the problem, at USD$7995 prottle is really poor value. The price of the product has risen substantially due to all of the dysfunctional garbage included, which does however look good in the glossies. At the time of the inclusion one is receptive to the new widget as there is a feint glimmer of hope that, contrary to past trends, it may actually work well enough to be of some commercial value. Shortly after reality returns. At the end of the day it has allowed the purchase price to bubble up considerably while we still spend considerable time griping over problematic issues in the core PCB design area, tracks on boards that is... In case Altium haven't noticed things are rather flat at the moment for many of us. Given recent events, the short term looks as though it will stay flat if not far worse. ( Unless you are a military contractor ;-) For a PCB Design Bureau who may use the product for 10 hours a day the upgrade will not be as big an issue as the product is earning its keep. In our operation we may use Prottle in a few bursts across the year, in amongst mech CAD, Compilers, Debuggers, Simulators, test equipment etc etc etc. All of which cost money to maintain. ( albeit far less than the REDICULOUS amount suggested by Protel ) What disappoints me more than the suggested hike is the complacency of the user community in rolling over and accepting the move, this vindicates the Commercial Piranha that have obviously hijacked the Company with the "Greed is Good Philosophy". Given the number of people in this list, the replies have been very thin indeed. The Company got to where it is, with a large user base that is, as a result of differentiating itself from the big guys by reasonable pricing. For a new purchaser ( at USD8K it will only be a sizeable business doing heaps of PCB work ) it might be a wiser move to invest a little more & buy a real Design package such as Veribest. For the smaller operator, he has already gone & purchased EWB or one of the many other "reasonably priced" Layout packages on the market. This like other correspondence to date has been CC'd to Protel sales so no doubt exists as to at least this user's opinion on their future path. If you have any interest in maintaining your own capacity to be able to afford future upgrades, I would suggest that you do likewise. If the user community fails to communicate with Altium on this issue then they may rightfully feel vindicated in shafting us for AUD$4K per Annum, heck they might even wonder where their users have all vanished to. Ball's in your court. Cheers Don Ingram CID * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * To post a message: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * To leave this list visit: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/leave.html * * Contact the list manager: * mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] * * Forum Guidelines Rules: * http://www.techservinc.com/protelusers/forumrules.html * * Browse or Search previous postings: * http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
