EEVblog #965 - The (Autodesk) Eagle Has Crashed

[dimkasta]

To be fair, autodesk seems to be very active with new releases.
And I loved the new "avoid obstacles" routing. Such a time saver. The library issues seem to have been solved on OSX as well.

The only thing annoying me now is the size restriction on the standard version.

And a roadmap would be very nice. Even a vague one. There are a lot of people thinking to migrate to other software because they do not see any big picture or benefit behind a long-term commitment to eagle.

[madires]

Eagle users have just learned that they can't trust Autodesk. How could they take any roadmap seriously?

[dimkasta]

A Roadmap is not a locked release calendar. It is usually vague, it includes only publicly announceable stuff (usually greatly beautified), and is meant to be taken with a grain of salt. Not something to be taken seriously. No serious professional would ever allow his business to depend on roadmap expectations.
It is just a description of what the plans for the future are, accompanied by an estimated release plan, usually grouped in yearly quarters.

Currently, the only thing that users know about Eagle's future with Autodesk is the increased monthly/yearly cost of usage (not even ownership) and bugs. Not such a great incentive for users that are used to having software that works forever.

[H.O]

Right, a roadmap should be taken with a grain of salt - that's an understatement when it comes to these people. Here's Matt from Autodesk speaking of the roadmap in July last year (the quote is from here.

@Dave, it's not going subscription.  So there.    At this stage, that isn't anywhere on my roadmap.  Thought about it.  Decided against it.  Can I say that we will never in the life of any product do that?  No, of course not.  That would be at best unfair, at worst dishonest.  But I have so many things that are more pressing.

Not anywhere on the roadmap, thought about it, decided against it. Right.
They didn't only change their roadmap, they did full 180° and did exactly the opposite. OK, he did say he couldn't promise it would never happen during the life of the product but it only took them 6 months. Given the choice of now or 5 yeard down the road, with even more time invested in EAGLE I'm glad they did it now so I could eject.

[Brumby]

Road maps of roads that haven't been built yet....

I wouldn't be planning a holiday with that much uncertainty, let alone relying on them - or even factoring them in - for business.