CadSoft EAGLE sold to AutoDesk

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Andy Peters

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For the last few years, the distributor Farnell owned CadSoft, publisher of the open-hardware favorite PCB development software EAGLE.  They have sold that business to AutoDesk, the big mechanical CAD software company.

This has to be considered a good thing, as the product was pretty much languishing for the last few years.

NB: I'm not an EAGLE user, as I kinda hate the interface, and I'm quite happy with KiCad for personal projects. (We use Altium at the day job.)
 
I am still using a very old eagle license.

I wouldn't mind a more reasonably priced upgrade path, since the dimensions (spaces and traces) supported by my older version is getting marginal for modern designs .

JR
 
I´m using Altium at work and I miss so much eagle.  It is good that a company with 3d background bought it.
 
Rochey said:
I guess they didn't integrate it well enough into the farnell infrastructure?

I think the marriage between Farnell and CadSoft was arranged because:

a) CadSoft needed an infusion of cash to fund upgrades. When a large part of your user base is happy with the free or lowest-cost option, how do you fund the features necessary to get professionals to spring for the full-cost version? We won't buy the full-up version if it is missing necessary features.

b) Farnell wanted to be able to offer a PCB CAD "solution" with hooks into their system. The idea was that you placed an OPA1632 on your schematic, and the symbol included the Farnell part number, and when the board was done, you could submit the BOM to them directly. I don't think they ever got to that point. And again, that's a feature that hobbyists would use, but professionals would look at all purchasing options and not just lock themselves into one distributor.

AutoDesk will provide the cash needed for the upgrades, and a better-quality EAGLE is a good thing. I suspect that the first thing that will happen is that AutoDesk will announce a subscription plan for the top-shelf EAGLE license, which will allow those who need the features (such as board size, number of pins, number of layers, whatever) can have access to it for a short period of time while they do the board development, and only pay for the use of the tools for that time. You can see why spending $200 for a month's access to the software makes a lot more sense than spending $1800 for a full-up license that only gets used for one month.

-a
 
I also use an old licence of the professional version (no component count and no size limits), which I'm content with, but I'm somewhat worried that a possible crash may make it unrecoverable (it survived remarkably well the migration to W10, though), so I'm willing to buy a newer version, but I find the limitations of the intermediate version impossible to deal with, and the price gap for the unlimited version too hard to swallow, so I stick to my old V5.0...
I'm afraid Autodesk is going to put the price point waaaayyy out of reach for most DIYers (and many small companies too).
I've been an Autocad user for 30+ years but I gave up when I saw the prices going sky-high. I use the free version of Draftsight now, that is fully compatible with Acad (instead of buying a Hong-Kong version ;)).
 
I remember simultaneously learning AutoCAD and eagle, seems it could be a good symbiotic relationship.

I'm curious as to what direction they will take it and what end user group they will target. It's strength is the home user / hobbyist, but not a lot of revenue there.
 
I'm super late to this topic, but today I decided to try and upgrade my Eagle 7 license to whatever the latest one was, and noticed the Autodesk buy-out.

To me this is the end of Eagle. Autodesk buy companies, then destroy them, often to remove competition, but more often then not because they are completely inept. I've been working professionally in Maya 3D for over 14 years, and I've seen it degrade into a barely useable POS over that time. The way they ignore users, add features that nobody ever needs, and constantly ship buggy half-working software is unparalleled. I'm going to keep using my existing license, and start learning Kicad in the background in preparation for a switch.

I'm still really saddened by this. I really liked and became quite proficient at Eagle, but the whole subscription thing has never gelled with me (even as a software developer myself), and the Autodesk factor is the final death knell.
 
etheory said:
Autodesk buy companies, then destroy them, often to remove competition, but more often then not because they are completely inept. ... The way they ignore users, add features that nobody ever needs, and constantly ship buggy half-working software is unparalleled.
Not really; ProTools, eat your heart out...
 
I bought the maker license during the holiday season, and a few days after it was sent, they published the Autodesk takeover, and subscription thing, I was really pissed off. I am not going to go for a subscription, I never do, for anything, if I can help it.

The thing that Autodesk didn't get was 3d, so it is no surprise that they f-ed up Maya, but I've always liked the sketcher in AutoCAD. I am working with Creo/ ProEngineer now, but despite the 3d part being lightyears better, I would definitely go for the sketcher from AutoCAD.

Regardless, I like Eagle, so I'll just stay on this version, the netlabels in the latest non-Autodesk version are really helpful.
 
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