Hmmm... my 2 cents. (that's about what it's worth...) Bah...Protel has a following because it was the best bang for the buck and it had a good user interface... That was P98 SP3 in my book.... most useful package I ever bought.
It's just not there anymore... it's more costly, and they have all kinds of file/project management road blocks and useless 'hoopla' built into the software that just gets in the way. Who wants to 'jump through hoops' to get their work done.. any volunteers? My advice to Altium, Improve our productivity through the use of smart tools, not more complexity. The old task specific packages were easier to use than anything that has come after them. We kept track of our files without all this extra junk. If there are linkages needed to improve the product, do it in the background, don't make the designer become a programmer to overcome poor implementation on the part of the developers. I have used this product for a long time now, mostly because it has been the tool that was available. If I have to change tools I will... I have in the past many times. Currently I am using 2 PCB design tools here to support older designs and newer ones that were developed on different tools. K.I.S.S. - keep it simple stupid! And fix MORE than you break. We don't need more structure to use the product...it just gets in the way. What we need is pin and gate swapping, we need a good autorouter, we need impedance matching tools to help with matched line lengths... and calculate better layer construction and the right materials to use... a wizard for those things would go a long way towards making our jobs easier. Build in IPC standards into the product... help us do our jobs more efficiently... we might even get raises from getting our boards out more trouble free and quicker... That's the key, make it easier to use and you have a winner. Mentor has created a monster, its unbelievable what happens to a cad tool when unchecked and unmanaged programmers get a hold of it... Pads is stuck with its poor 'just stick the feature here' philosophy... tools and commands are buried in such unrelated and topsy turvy menu structures and names that it takes months of use before you can make a board... and yet we do. We can figure it out... but why make it so difficult? My guess is it was probably easier for the programmers not the end user. I bet the programmers just love the product... but they don't use it. If someone would just take all the stuff that works good in the program and clean up the stuff that was broken or didn't work right they would have something. Get rid of the programmers that want to make some sort of a file management tool out of it... they are just making it worse and more complicated. We don't NEED or WANT that. You need to hire a PCB designer to run the development of the tool... that will make sure that you end up with something a PCB designer would like. Hire a EE to run the development of the Schematic and chip development tools... your success will be overwhelming.... vision is the key... so many things fail for lack of clear vision. Understand your customer. Put yourself in our shoes... then create the product. I have not yet seen the new product release for 2004... but I have seen DXP... and 99SE, and 99, and 98, and 2.5 ... so when do we get what we want? Bill Brooks PCB Design Engineer , C.I.D., C.I.I. Tel: (760)597-1500 Ext 3772 Fax: (760)597-1510 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Tuesday, March 09, 2004 3:06 PM To: Protel EDA Forum Subject: Re: [PEDA] 2004 DXP Looks Great, John A. Ross [Design] wrote: >....shows the actual level of >respect Altium has for its users, and they know that they will get away >with it, because of the amount of loyalists within the user community >who will automatically defend them with tunnel vision. > Lots of companies have that attitude. They get away with it because customers know that in order to switch companies, they will have to undergo a major learning curve. Most people do not want to go through this learning curve, both because it is disruptive to their work and because it is a lot of hard frustrating work and us humans are by nature lazy. Even a company as self absorbed and arrogant as Microsoft knows that and has provided hooks to go back to the "classic" themes in Windows XP. Protel, when designing DXP decided to make a huge departure from the last version, 99SE. Protel knew, or should have known, that for experienced users there would be a huge learning curve. At the very least, that would cost them sales because people would be reluctant to switch because of the learning curve. However, they would hope that people will switch because of the great features that the new software would be providing. But when the new software fails to deliver, the users of the old software have two choices, neither of which is good for Protel. They can stay with the old version for as long as they can and Protel will not see any money out of them. Or if they resign to a learning curve, they can look around at the whole market place and decide on the best software. Protel may or may not win in this search. If anything, the odds are stacked against Protel because these customers already have the inside knowledge that the new Protel product does not work very well. They are more likely to take a chance with a new company based on its sales presentation, rather than stick with Protel which they know to be not very good. In the end, by not providing hooks to make the learning curve simpler for existing users and not delivering a product that improves on the existing product in the areas that the existing users use, Protel has shot itself in the foot. That would not have been so bad, except for the fact that their foot was in their mouth and the head stuck up their rear ends when they shot. As a result, they may have mortally wounded themselves. I intend to give them a little more time, but I certainly do not intend to hang around for the funeral. Hamid > >IMO Altium are due DXP users a lot more than they are giving, whatever >form that may be. > >Like Protel I do, very much, prepared to help make it better I am, >prepared to help anyone else yes I am, willingly without obligation, >like many others, prepared to be disrespected for my efforts no I am >not, prepared to put a halo on Altiums head no I am not. > >Without Prejudice of any kind > >John > > > > > * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * 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] * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
