New EAGLE licensing

[jorge_garcia]

Hello Everyone,

In this post we will be briefly describing how the new subscription model for EAGLE works.

Firstly, the Autodesk licensing model is subscription based and the EAGLE paid license will require that you install the SW and then generate an account on accounts.autodesk.com to retrieve your license entitlement.   

If you lose your network connection, the SW has a 14-day heartbeat that will enable you to work offline for 14 days.

All of your data is stored locally, so you are in complete control of your data.

We will continue to provide the freeware version of EAGLE. In order to use it you will still need to register an account with Autodesk.

In an upcoming release we will be adjusting the software so in the worst case scenario, where internet is unavailable past 14 days, the software will revert to free mode. That way you can always review your designs.

You can review the current EAGLE pricing by visiting this page.

[Anonymous]

I do not like that internet connection stuff, and aso these overbloated software for making boards, I like the simple approach.

But just read and watch here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfsPL0pIpxw

I have trial althium, but also that internet connection stuff, very good for stealing mine design by for example China.

I stay the simple way and kicad is maybe the best one because it is open source, open source is these days grown intelligent, there are some very good programmers and company's involved, a good thing, we need simpel stuff because the design of boards is not so easy anymore as in the old days and we need to get our attention there, not in learning software who is overbloated. Eagle is such software but she do just also did the jump to internet unfortanely.

regards

[Anonymous]

The answer is pretty simple, that I asked them for and I got: you click "go offline" and then click "check license information"
the license information will say "14 days remaining"

It's that simple. On a bandwidth limited system, you once per two weeks click "go online" and then "go offline", disconnect RJ-45 cable or serial cable if you use TCP/IP over RS-232. It's pretty reasonable, for what it is.

I understand your concerns, but... the software is in a strong and fast development mode now, it needs regular income.

Plus, you can use the 7.7.0 all you want with your old license files... so what's the problem?

[Anonymous]

In the UK, for example, you can't own your own children, or do half of the things you'd like to, because the state says so. If doctors or court gets involved, you have no rights whatsoever. Is your child blonde with blue eyes? It will likely get sold to the highest bidder.

And you are crying over a piece of sketching software? Pathetic.

[Anonymous]

Good luck!
...
...
You wil need it.

[bmeyer8J5TU]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

It's that simple. On a bandwidth limited system, you once per two weeks click "go online" and then "go offline", disconnect RJ-45 cable or serial cable if you use TCP/IP over RS-232. It's pretty reasonable, for what it is.

I understand your concerns, but... the software is in a strong and fast development mode now, it needs regular income.

Plus, you can use the 7.7.0 all you want with your old license files... so what's the problem?

---

I'm going to set you straight a bit here because you are writing without thinking on two very salient points.  

#1.  In regard to disconnected operation.  

Permanent connectivity is a *huge* problem for the small percentage of the user base.  I know, because I am in that 1% where I regularly spend 3 months or more in a location where there is *no* connectivity for long periods of time.  

Australia has connectivity to 90% of the population ... that is *NOT* 90% of the country.  In fact, connectivity in Australia is only around 30% of the total area.  If you work in the remote rural areas it is completely normal to be without sort of communication unless you are using 2way radio.  

   Now .. before some bright spark barks up "Australias NBN" ... yeah ... lets not talk about that ... I have a site which has been offline for a touch over 7 months now so lets not go there.  

So ... permanent connectivity is a "big" problem if you are in the 1% group.  I am, but I will freely acknowledge that 95% of the Eagle user base is not.  So it was a deal breaking issue with us (and I'm sorry but 14 days of "disconnected" use just does not cut it).  

#2.  I don't think that anyone actually said that subscription is innately bad.  What people have been up in arms about is that this particular subscription implementation of the model absolutely stinks.  

A model where you stop paying, but can continue to use your existing versions (without any entitlements to updates, etc) is I think perfectly fair, and I haven't heard too many people arguing that point.  

To stop paying your subscription and then have the software essentially stop - effectively holding your design to ransom is bad.  

I'm sorry but read-only open mode simply does not cut it - that is bad (it's not 100% evil - that is a model where you can't even *view* your files, and I have examples of software companies that have done that as well).  

Now you can argue this all you like but it doesn't change the fact that as Autodesk has implemented it, it's an atrocious model for the user.  Might be great for them, but as the user ... not so much.  

The bit that Autodesk really *really* got wrong with this whole debacle was how they handled it.  

They absolutely need to be reamed for not reaching out to their premium paid existing user base and saying "this is what we are doing... you will need to either accept or if this is untenable, you need to migrate off, and here is what we suggest".  

Autodesk did *NONE* of these things.  Instead they let the user base find out on their own, and that was an absolutely unforgivable sin.  

You do *NOT* do that to your professional user base who are relying on a specific behaviour in a toolchain for their livelihood.  

It might be legal, but it is unethical and downright slimy.  

For people to defend them for this, it means that they are basically condoning this sort of deplorable corporate behaviour.  This is *NOT* something one should be supporting in any way, shape or form.  Anyone who does, has some serious ethical problems ... probably a lawyer or an MBA ... 🙂

/BGM

[Anonymous]

Well, unlike at microsoft and google and other companies, here you can bring this to the product manager, that would be Matt Berggren, I think matt.berggren is the user name here.

" I don't think that anyone actually said that subscription is innately bad" ...lots of people did argue on that point only, that subscription is "teh evil".

"A model where you stop paying, but can continue to use your existing versions (without any entitlements to updates, etc) is I think perfectly fair, and I haven't heard too many people arguing that point. "

well, a lot of people who have 7.x licences have been complaining that the version 8 and its updates are not free for them and that "they quit", I'm not kidding here!!! There also were other people crying and screaming and throwing fits; people who never ever paid for Eagle and the subscription stuff broke their keys. Why would anyone using v7.x complain? The only reason is that software upgrade to v8.x which he/she wanted, but didn't get, if that person was all so happy with v7, why all the "I'm going to ki-ki-kki-kikad"? I started at KiCad, but left for eagle, because you can't alter a IOTA in an existing KiCad design, and for me 99% of the time spent is just altering, tweaking, replacing. The KiCad community support is also weak, etc. KiCad is fine for projects where nothing will ever change and everything will always go to plan. ...The KiCad layout editor is also 35 years old.

Anyway, your complaint about places with very low connectivity (connections per year) is completely valid and I raised it before and nobody believed me. Now that you are here, maybe someone will believe me that there are tens of thousands of hermit engineers. ...now I recall some underground dwellings in australia, carved in soft stone; those were beautiful and nice, also a quiet workplace 😄

I wanted a USB (or other) physical license key, even if it was only valid for a year... the answer was 'no, because...'

So, your connectivity issue needs to be heard by Matt, he decides.

And regarding the switch to online: the decision isn't that easy, it was 'either do this or die'. Any company that intends to be here in 20 years needs to grow. Online and online services is where the growth is. Not growing leads to others either buing you or destroying you or BOTH. (Oh, Microsoft, most famous destroyer of good software products)

[bmeyer8J5TU]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

Well, unlike at microsoft and google and other companies, here you can bring this to the product managere, that would be Matt Berggren, I think matt.berggren is the user name here.

" I don't think that anyone actually said that subscription is innately bad" ...lots of people did.

Anyway, your complaint about places with very low connectivity is completely valid and I raised it before and nobody believed me. Now that you are here, maybe someone will believe me that there are tens of thousands of hermit engineers. ...now I recall some underground dwellings in australia, carved in soft stone; those were beautiful and nice, also a quiet workplace 😄

I wanted a USB (or other) physical license key, even if it was only valid for a year... the answer was 'no, because...'

So, your connectivity issue needs to be heard by Matt, he decides.

And regarding the switch to online: the decision isn't that easy, it was 'either do this or die'. Any company that intends to be here in 20 years needs to grow. Online and online services is where the growth is. Not growing leads to others either buing you or destroying you or BOTH. (Oh, Microsoft, most famous destroyer of good software products)

---

Matt and the rest of Autodesk are *well* aware of this issue.  

He (Matt) personally acknowledged this was an issue in an earlier posting that I made in Feb regarding this.  Suffice to say that at the time ... nothing else happened.  

"Yes it's an issue" ... and that is it.  Yep... thanks ... so what do we do about it.  "You want to give us some direction?  What are our options?"

The silence was deafening.  

Matt better than anyone there *knows* of the connectivity issues in AU as he is from here.  Its a situation that Autodesk chose to ignore which is fine ... that is their prerogative.  

What I found appalling was not 6 months before, he (Matt), when asked about this sort of thing had specifically said this kind of change would *not* be happening...

Based on the time line involved when various statements were made ...  that wasn't a change of heart - it was an outright lie.  

In regard to the "do this or die" .... err .. yeah.  Sorry but I don't buy that at all.  

Finally Microsoft ... destroyer of software.  Yeah ... I can't argue there.   🙂

/BGM

[Anonymous]

Matt, still, is an employee and has still higher management above him, he doesn't have the end word. But good that you posted this: now he can show it, if he wants (or dares!).

"In regard to the "do this or die" .... err .. yeah. Sorry but I don't buy that at all.
Finally Microsoft ... destroyer of software. Yeah ... I can't argue there. :)"

--- well, those two are part of one sentence and are closely connected. Microsoft kept growing, which is what allowed them to buy up and destroy. And even Cadsoft got bought up. You don't get it? This is a predatory ground, smaller companies will be gobbled up or outcompeted. I don't dare to think about how microsoft would manage Cadsoft. Altium owners also could have bought CadSoft and do whatever. Would you liked THAT to happen?

[Anonymous]

Some very good points here, the key one being:

"To stop paying your subscription and then have the software essentially stop - effectively holding your design to ransom is bad. "

The software industry gets away with so much that would be completely unacceptable in other industries.

[Anonymous]

Interesting opinion, since it contradicts the facts: I was fully able to run and use Eagle, each time my licence subscription is invalid, I was only unable to edit the actual layout. Please, provide me with more information on what version did you use and how did the software "stop".

"The software industry gets away with so much that would be completely unacceptable in other industries."

Name one.

Hospital was late in paying many bills, had huge unpaid deliveries of oxygen and the oxygen deliveries stopped. 60 children dead that day.

Tenant is late in paying his electricity bills, his electric power is cut off, and now he can't create new content, and he's not even able to view any content, unlike at Eagle, where he still can open and view all the files!

I can't find an example where is a limited access to tools and services completely unacceptable for free and 80 square centimeters of 2-layer board also available for free. I'm trying HARD! Okay, I rent a Bugatti for 24 hours, my rent runs out and I will get a Volkswagen Golf instead and I no longer have to pay anything to use it and what else: I even get upgrades and maintenance on that Golf! Amazing! You say that "would be completely unacceptable in other industries", and I think that yes, the car rental business would go bankrupt very soon with such a business model. Maybe I need to remind you that car development also costs money, I think it was W210 Mercedes which cost 2 billion euros to develop?

I'm trying hard to come with an example of "getting away with". Paying for natural gas deliveries? no. Taxes and services from those? LOL, much worse! Petrol? Nope. I'm trying to find any license for a work of somebody else that I can use at much better conditions. Mobile phone software? You get software updates anytime you don't want, the updates will break functionality without warning, all the apps will spy on you, or even the phone itself: it can report your GPS position, today mainly without an existing search warrant. Your TV records what you are saying and sends it abroad to a server which decodes what has been said, and does it 24/7. Oil drillers rent a drilling platform at 500000 USD per day and have to pay for it, and SURPRISE they don't get that or a smaller version of platform for free at the end of the lease.

The only way out of it is that you comission someone to write the software for you and pay in full, then you are the owner of such software and be happy to use it.

Otherwise, I can't find a good analogy.

[Anonymous]

"I was only unable to edit the actual layout."

Well clearly thats not useful and I consider its enough to be classed as not working correctly.

Most software these days seems to be sold on the premise that(according to the small print) Is:

Not fit for a particular  purpose.

No guarantee to work in a particular way.

If it has bugs that cause you problems - hard luck.

I think if you bother to look around you there are many things that are NOT like this.

[rachaelATWH4]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

"I was only unable to edit the actual layout."

Well clearly thats not useful and I consider its enough to be classed as not working correctly.

Most software these days seems to be sold on the premise that(according to the small print) Is:

Not fit for a particular  purpose.

No guarantee to work in a particular way.

If it has bugs that cause you problems - hard luck.

I think if you bother to look around you there are many things that are NOT like this.

---

You've got me a little confused here, you seem to be arguing for both sides....

Whether you like the subscription licensing or not is irrelevant as its here to stay and rehashing the same arguments against it will make zero difference. You can't fault Autodesk for the amount of effort they are putting into EAGLE and the support you get when you do have a problem. Licensing aside, EAGLE is in a way better place now than it was a year ago and I can't wait to see what it's like a year from now.

Best Regards,

Rachael

[Anonymous]

"Not fit for a particular  purpose.

No guarantee to work in a particular way.

If it has bugs that cause you problems - hard luck.

I think if you bother to look around you there are many things that are NOT like this."

Not anymore. I would have to look into 1900 or before. Expensive "Baby water" that has declared 10x more nitrates than cheap drinking water sold on a palette next to it, cars and emission cleaning systems working exactly only in the temperature span of 22°C +-5°C, houses, thermal insulation on those. I have trouble finding anything "not like this". We live in a new era, post-industrialization consumerist era. News reporter tells me that mineral wool is "less flammable"... even death doesn't work always as intended these days.

[rachaelATWH4]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

... even death doesn't work always as intended these days.

---

Dare I even ask?..... 

[matt.berggren]

Thanks for posts guys! Sorry, was offline a few days in meetings!

Just a few words on this: your design is never held hostage if your subscription lapses. In fact, ANY design can be opened in EAGLE and viewed, have outputs generated (gerber, drill, printout, etc) regardless of license type. What's more, you can even make edits within the board area and layer stack avail under the free license. So it's simply not correct to say your design is being held hostage.

And I want to add something else which is critically important for anyone coming from another EDA tool: don't underestimate the value of an open XML format. I spent years in EDA working for "the other guy" and I would argue strongly against the binary formats that other companies use. If you think you own your data, think again. Those formats have significant encoding in them and tricks that make them *harder* to read, on purpose! This is a strategy for lock-in. Reverse engineering these is an exercise in patience and frustration! I know, first hand.

I would caution you, when you hear a word like "vault," think about what that means. EAGLE's approach is one of openness and Autodesk hasn't changed that at all. In fact we added the export to version 7 to the SW to address exactly this issue. We want you to have options. If you don't like v8, roll back. No love - or data - lost.

WRT to access in places with sketchy internet, let me stress that we have a 14-day heartbeat. That means after 14 days, editing outside of the freeware license limits (outside the areas and layers support by the free license) is restricted. Does it mean you can't edit the board? No. Does it modify the open file format to restrict access? No. Do you lose access to local or even managed libraries? No. Can you still create gerber files, printouts, etc? Yes. Can you still add parts or edit tracks? Yes. Can you add text or markup or whatever? Yes. And what happens when you can connect? It goes back to your regular paid license. It will always "fail-friendly" and roll over to something you can use. This is the strategy.

There's a lot of misinformation swimming around so I'm not upset with users for struggling to understand all of this. However it's imperative we make clear what our REAL strategy is. We make education, startup and hobbyist SW available for free, however it's the same as the professional tools! It's not some cut down version with features withheld. We want you to succeed in using the software. In fact, creating lock-in works AGAINST our strategy because all we end up with are angry users who spread hate and erode our commercial opportunity.

That being said, I am happy to hear concerns and answer ANY questions anyone has. As ADresden points out, I set the strategy as well as manage the amazing developers on the product. And I spend every day in these forums reading every post. (Yes, all of them.). So please message me with any concerns you have and I will address them as best I can! And apologies, I was in planning meetings for 3 days this week or I would have responded earlier! :). (Oh, and what we're "planning" in those meetings? Awesomeness.)

Best regards,

Matt Berggren
Director - Autodesk EAGLE

[Anonymous]

I'd like to add to the discussion again only because the real pertinent parts of my argument in a previous post were not addressed by anyone. I did get some replies along the implied lines of "suck it up buttercup" and "any ideological arguments against subscription price structuring will fall on deaf ears at Autodesk".  I do believe that most of my disagreement falls along ideological lines but there is also a practical argument.  I fully understand that Eagle is still partially functional after disconnecting or not continuing to purchase a license. I'll repost the pertinent part of my previous post below:

=========================

Do not make the mistake of attributing the additions to Eagle by Autodesk to the licensing scheme.  The additions came from the engineers and the company, not the licensing model.  The additions would have and will come regardless of the licensing model.  

If perpetual licences for the version at the time of purchase were given, people would be happy to pay.  This is how Pycharm licensing is done.  Once you pay for a version in their subscription model, the functionality of the software you purchased never changes.  If you don't continue paying, you only miss out on new features.

I believe that licensing in a way that cripples if you don't continue paying is morally wrong [in most instances] and here's why:

AS IN ANY RELATIONSHIP, IF ONE TRIES TO CONTROL THE

OTHER, THEY ARE NOT CONFIDENT IN THEMSELVES OR WHAT

THEY OFFER ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THE OTHER WILL STAY IF GIVEN

THE FREEDOM TO LEAVE.

Autodesk is controlling you by saying, if you don't pay, we'll take things away from you.  It is a tactic used by controlling individuals to curry loyalty, by abusive husbands to control wives, by inept bosses to control employees ,etc.  It's unhealthy and creates an environment of mistrust and anger.

If Autodesk believes in its products; if they believe that by what they bring to the table alone, customers will voluntarily stay, then they should show that through their agreements with their customers.

As an auto mechanic, one would expect to own their tools.  If they get laid off or somehow become unable to pay, a rental of tools would mean that they would be unable to move on.  I believe ephemeral services are perfect fits for non-perpetual licencing and fees.  Things like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. fit into this category.  I believe tools with specific uses and capabilities do not fit this model.  In this case, someone buys a utility, it should continue to work, un-tethered, without restriction as a physical tool does.

It's obvious here that Autodesk does NOT believe the products they offer will stand on their own and provide enough value that their customers would be loyal if given the opportunity to leave.

[jorge_garcia]

---

 I believe that licensing in a way that cripples if you don't continue paying is morally wrong [in most instances] and here's why:

AS IN ANY RELATIONSHIP, IF ONE TRIES TO CONTROL THE

OTHER, THEY ARE NOT CONFIDENT IN THEMSELVES OR WHAT

THEY OFFER ENOUGH TO BELIEVE THE OTHER WILL STAY IF GIVEN

THE FREEDOM TO LEAVE.

Autodesk is controlling you by saying, if you don't pay, we'll take things away from you.  It is a tactic used by controlling individuals to curry loyalty, by abusive husbands to control wives, by inept bosses to control employees ,etc.  It's unhealthy and creates an environment of mistrust and anger.

If Autodesk believes in its products; if they believe that by what they bring to the table alone, customers will voluntarily stay, then they should show that through their agreements with their customers.

---

Hi @Anonymous,

I hope you're doing well. Since you mentioned that certain points of your argument had not been addressed I thought it prudent to address them, thank you for bringing them in a civil manner in search of a response and not a fight. The basis of the above argument is the belief that EAGLE users are locked in to EAGLE. Your bolded statement ends with the phrase "IF GIVEN THE FREEDOM TO LEAVE". There in lies the fatal flaw of this argument. Thanks to the open XML file format, almost every other tool out there has an EAGLE importer. I've used Altium's importer and it's pretty close to perfect on the designs I tried. Users have the complete freedom to leave with their data intact and I know there are users who have done just this, they picked up their ball and went home. I recognize that the transition to another tool entails a cost in both time and money but users are free to leave if they really can't deal with subscription and some have taken this option.

I would argue that in order for subscription to work, Autodesk has to have complete faith in it's products and work diligently to make them best in class otherwise people will stop paying and move on to other tools that better suite their needs. No where in the Autodesk ecosystem is this more critical than in EAGLE because of the open XML format and the ability to save back to V7. That's why so much development has been poured into EAGLE to convince customers that Autodesk is committed to EAGLE and that they are getting value for their investment. We fully understand that in our case it's not that difficult to leave so we have to work harder and make EAGLE better, make it the tool it has always had the potential to be.

---

@Anonymous wrote:

As an auto mechanic, one would expect to own their tools.  If they get laid off or somehow become unable to pay, a rental of tools would mean that they would be unable to move on.  I believe ephemeral services are perfect fits for non-perpetual licencing and fees.  Things like Netflix, Amazon Prime, etc. fit into this category.  I believe tools with specific uses and capabilities do not fit this model.  In this case, someone buys a utility, it should continue to work, un-tethered, without restriction as a physical tool does.

---

I would disagree with this statement because even mechanics sometimes rent high-cost specialized equipment to perform certain jobs. Bringing it closer to home sometimes RF design firms have to rent HF frequency scopes costing more than a house to get certain products out the door. It is not uncommon to rent time in anechoic chambers for testing purposes and the list goes on. The concept of renting tools is not alien to the electronics community, it's really just new in the context of software but the idea is the same. I personally would have never paid the old $1640.00 for a pro unless I was running my own business. Now if I want to do a personal project that needs a large board I can just pay $65.00 for the month and get it done. If EAGLE is your bread and butter and you make your living off it just chalk the subscription fee to the cost of doing business and budget for it, in this scenario if $500/year is burdensome then I think you have bigger problems than EAGLE's licensing mechanism.

We've already discussed the technical implications of the subscription model at length so I don't want to rehash those here. I hope this addresses your points. Please let us know if you have any other questions and thank you for your comments.

Best Regards,

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:
...

Do not make the mistake of attributing the additions to Eagle by Autodesk to the licensing scheme.  The additions came from the engineers and the company, not the licensing model.  The additions would have and will come regardless of the licensing model.  

...

Autodesk is controlling you by saying, if you don't pay, we'll take things away from you.  It is a tactic used by controlling individuals to curry loyalty, by abusive husbands to control wives, by inept bosses to control employees ,etc.  It's unhealthy and creates an environment of mistrust and anger.

...

On Point 1: Licensing scheme is related directly to product revenue. Product revenue is directly related to resources applied to that product. "The engineers would have done the work anyway" assumes that no additional engineering resources have been allocated to Eagle. The rate at which improvements have been coming strongly suggests that more resources have been applied. Resources cost money. Eagle used to be cheaper and have a perpetual license and people constantly complained "When are they going to fix X?" and "When are they going to add Y feature?". Now Eagle has more development resources and that is not free. Software features are being added which appear to be bringing Eagle's capabilities steadily towards packages like Altium or OrCAD. Guess what? Those tools cost $5K-$10K for the initial "perpetual" license and around $2K per year to get updates and support. Gee, that sounds like they get a big chunk of money up front AND subscription fees. Say what you really want here: "I want Eagle to keep progressing until its' as good as Altium or OrCAD, but I still want to pay $1600 for a unlimited premium license or $160 for a Hobbyist/Maker perpetual license". Autodesk needs to generate enough revenue to keep the product development moving. If they kept the perpetual license and doubled the price every 3 years to make up for the dev costs we'd hear the same people screaming in a different way.

You cant do the "subscribe until I don't want to anymore and then get a perpetual license after that with no updates" or you'd have EVERYONE subscribing for one month and cutting the cord after that. Now they have a $1600+ package for $65. Every year or so they pay another $65 so they can get the latest updates. Don't say, "I won't do that. I'm honest!" because everyone here is asserting that they OWN FULL RIGHTS to the software they PAID FOR and should be able to do ANYTHING THEY WANT with it. Read the EULA for any operating system or piece of software and you will know that is simply not true. The hard fact is a software purchase falls somewhere between ownership and rental and is closer to the rental side.

Software contains a lot of intellectual property and purchasing one copy does not entitle you to all the rights nor any rights over that IP. Most people go through life never understanding even the basics of this as it applies to SW or even other media(movies, music, even all the way back to books and maybe even stone tablets?). But as soon as you enter the world of creating intangible and reproducible content, it becomes more clear. The subscription model is perfectly clear that you are now paying for the right to USE features and amortizes that over time to be roughly equivalent to the same cost of a "perpetual" license where support and updates effectively end every 3 years. Most people will want to keep updated to get the latest features, which improve THEIR productivity and increase THEIR profits(what a novel concept!). Which brings me to:

Point 2: There is NO abuse and NO control here! Wait, there is. YOU have complete control! Yes, it's true! You can choose to stop paying for and stop using Eagle! Moreover, Autodesk is not preventing you from viewing, printing, or even generating new FAB packages(Gerbers, Assy, etc) from your existing designs. There is no Psychological manipulation or brainwashing going on here. You know up front it's a subscription, and YOU CHOOSE. Move to CS or Diptrace(face it, no one here is really moving to Altium or OrCAD). The whole world of software is moving to subscription, do you think they're not going to be there in a few years as well? Or move to KiCAD. That will probably be where the hobbyists and small startups go as these kind of revolts will kill off affordable entry level licenses which, to be honest, aren't generating any appreciable revenue for AutoCAD. Medium and Large businesses aren't going to use KiCAD as they have no appetite for bugs that can't be fixed on a tight schedule. That's one of the reasons most med-large businesses have not adopted Linux as their sole OS.

Let's be honest - most of these cries of revolt are empty. The majority of those who truly intended to switch have left already and are not on these forums any longer. They're getting on with their business...

[Anonymous]

"I would disagree with this statement because even mechanics sometimes rent high-cost specialized equipment to perform certain jobs. Bringing it closer to home sometimes RF design firms have to rent HF frequency scopes costing more than a house to get certain products out the door"

On the car mechanics: well, very true, Mercedes licensing works that way. Or, McDonalds, you are renting the premises to sell McDonalds.

RF design: I remember someone renting RF simulation software for a couple of runs (days), I think the costs were at least in tens of thousands of dollars. A bit steep for a research project...

[Anonymous]

You seem familiar.
You speak like me.
You math like me.
You find the same logical arguments as I do.
...an oscilloscope used to be my favorite toy in my youth.
I think it's the radiation from the scope!
I think it is possible it causes some sort of engineering mutations.

Quote:
A: "Will he be able to lead a normal life?"
B: "No, he'll be an engineer."