I received it yesterday. However, I haven't yet decided whether to sign or 
not. Perhaps the biggest sticking point is that the license specifically 
forbids me to use the beta to do real work - above and beyond the usual 
disclaimers of liability for any of the results. Now I have to ask, what's 
the definition / purpose of beta testing? In all the usage I've ever seen, it 
meant testing which gets the product in the hands of a few select real users, 
so that it can be shaken down in actual use. I'm sure I'm not alone in the 
need to have my time be productive; I can't afford to just go play with it, 
much as I'd like to, nor would I be likely to find any bugs their own 
internal testing wouldn't have found. Add that to the rumors of the new 
pricing structure which closes the Protel line to all but a few of the 
best-endowed current users, and I don't suppose I'll be using the product 
anyway.

As much as I would like to believe otherwise, it seems that Protel has gone 
the way of so many other technology companies - the initial few real sharp 
individuals with vision became successful enough at what they set out to do, 
to become targets for the financial "wizards", and now the company is driven 
by the bean-counters, and will shortly be crying that it's lost market share 
and it can't stay afloat, layoffs, govt bailouts, etc. Within a short time, 
though, will come another entrepeneur who recognizes the void which Protel 
has left, and fills it with tools which advance the state of the art, at a 
price which fits the vast numbers of small shops which have been overlooked 
by the financial types. Looks like I'm stuck with P99SEsp6, warts and all, 
until that next entrepeneur gets going. Hmmm, my degree is in computer 
science (I started out doing mostly programming), and I've now got a lot of 
experience designing PC boards so I also know the user side of things. Maybe 
a new business opportunity here.....

Steve Hendrix

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