Free Altium is Coming

[ludzinc]

I find it interesting that they want to build a maker 'community' but restrict it to Windows users only. Definitely not a good start. ;-)

Makers don't give a hoot about the OS they're using.  Being a "Maker" has NOTHING to do with one's choice of operating system.  Nothing at all.  It has to do with making things...

THIS!

[c4757p]

I find it interesting that they want to build a maker 'community' but restrict it to Windows users only. Definitely not a good start. ;-)

Makers don't give a hoot about the OS they're using.  Being a "Maker" has NOTHING to do with one's choice of operating system.  Nothing at all.  It has to do with making things...

Yes, if you define "maker" as "one who makes". Not so much if you define it as one of the group of people who call themselves "Makers". They act as a community and tend to have certain cultural preferences.

[DerekG]

You guys are so out of touch. Go to a MakerFaire and look at the number of people with MacBooks vs PCs.

Macs are also becoming super popular in high school through college.

Just because you live in a little Windows bubble, don't assume everyone else does too. It's not 1999 anymore.

I've never really thought about it in this way as I'm a Windows user myself, but you are correct.

My daughter went to a private school in Australia. Every year there was a "computing fee" which meant they got an new Macbook every 2nd year. Apparently this is occurring in many/most private schools in Australia. Apple have done some super special deals with them. Just before departing year 12, Apple offered an extra 15% off their already cheap/special/school prices. This applied across their entire range to all the kids. My daughter picked up a new Macbook Air which she now users at university (alongside most of her other friends who are also using Macs).

I bought her an Android phone. She said "why would I want one of those?. I'll save up & buy an iPhone so I can synchronise everything with my laptop."

My wife runs everything Mac. She said it just works & "I can sync everything across my iPad, Macbook laptop, iPhone & my big iMac."

I'm sort of feeling left out. I bought a brand new (much faster) i7 Samsung laptop almost 2 years ago but I'm still using my 6 year old i5 Toshiba laptop as it is just so much work to reinstall all the Windows programs on the new one.

Perhaps someone knows of some great software where I can clone the Windows 7 drive in the Toshiba & run everything under Windows 8 on the Samsung?

Altium do need to carefully look at this issue before it's too late.

Remember that Motorola used to give out many of their tools cheaply/free for programming micros to the universities in the 70's & 80's. They stopped doing that in the 90's .............. & where is Motorola/On Semi these days in the micro field? Obliveon, or very close to it.

[zapta]

Makers don't give a hoot about the OS they're using.  Being a "Maker" has NOTHING to do with one's choice of operating system.  Nothing at all.  It has to do with making things...

Professionals will get whatever machine their mission critical app requires. For non professional it's just another app that doesn't justify OS change. Different mindset.

[DerekG]

Professionals will get whatever machine their mission critical app requires.

Yes, and AD caters for these users on a professional basis already (ie Windows platform).

For non professional it's just another app that doesn't justify OS change. Different mindset.

Quite correct. And this is the market that Altium is now targeting - the hacker/maker/hobbyist market.

These users will always consider pcb design software firstly on the basis of "Does it run on my existing operating system?"

As we know, Altium are very slow learners. It may be that Altium wakes up to this in (say) 5 years time.

DipTrace announced a couple of months ago that they will be taking their software out of the WINE bottle & supporting it natively in the next release. Looks like they have their eyes open.

[etzz]

Heres an idea, just take the regular old AD 14 and limit the layers, pin count, etc etc.  Just like everyone else does!  You dont have to re-invent the wheel, you dont have to take the electronics design community by storm.  People will use it just because it works, is a fair price, and is in a very compelling industry price niche.  This is exactly what has made them their millions so far.

No new program to support and get all the bugs out of.  No new feature set to constantly change.  The developers can all work on the same code set and keep getting the bugs out.

Altium has been jumping through hoops to try to get everyone on their overpriced subscription.  Half the new features are all online crap that nobody wants.  I get it, it makes for nice recurring revenue.  If you want recurring revenue, make support and upgrades reasonable, and people will all pile on the bandwagon.  No need to shake up the design community with something new.
RANT STILL ON
Eric

[Rigby]

Makers don't give a hoot about the OS they're using.  Being a "Maker" has NOTHING to do with one's choice of operating system.  Nothing at all.  It has to do with making things...

Professionals will get whatever machine their mission critical app requires. For non professional it's just another app that doesn't justify OS change. Different mindset.

And none of them use Linux.

Altium supports Windows, maybe Mac.  Expanding that for a freemium version won't happen.  They're trying to extract money from YOU; they aren't going to blow it supporting a platform their premium tools don't support.

[zapta]

Altium supports Windows, maybe Mac.  Expanding that for a freemium version won't happen.  They're trying to extract money from YOU; they aren't going to blow it supporting a platform their premium tools don't support.

Their competition sports Linux but Altium can do whatever they want.

[EEVblog]

For those who didn't believe I was telling the truth 
http://circuitmaker.com
Yes, they have resurrected the old name Circuit Maker which I think is a most excellent choice.
You can sign up on that site.

[zapta]

For those who didn't believe I was telling the truth 
http://circuitmaker.com
Yes, they have resurrected the old name Circuit Maker which I think is a most excellent choice.
You can sign up on that site.

Text is barely visible on my screen.

[Richard Crowley]

Apparently still in "closed beta".  By signing up you can "express your interest".
Presumably that gets you added to the mailing list to be notified when they are ready.

[Rigby]

Good for Eagle and Kicad.  I don't think anyone will get them confused with Altium.  They ALL run on Windows, and that alone is reason enough to run Windows to me.

Altium are trying to provide a gateway to their higher cost, higher functionality software by removing a single large barrier to entry and converting it into many much less intense "hurdles" to entry.  They want to provide a smooth upgrade path for those that slowly grow to require the high end functionality, and they want to capture the hobbyist market in the hope that a small percentage will upgrade all the way.

They would be foolish to support an operating system at the low end of their product line thst they cannot smoothly convert to a full-package customer at the high end.

I don't like Linux on the desktop.  It has a VERY long way to go.  Look at what can be done administratively on windows with group policy and the like.  Nothing like this exists on Linux.  I would tend to classify disagreement with that into ignorance of Windows capabilities.

If there are lawyers representing an employer, and the employees are a potential source of liability for the employer, those employees will almost unilaterally be running Windows because of the capabilities the OS provides in terms of control, auditing, and discovery, double so for third party software that is available.

Hobbyists can run whatever they like.  Be happy, I say.  Don't expect your favorite enterprise software vendors to pay much attention to you, though.  99%+ of their customer base in enterprise is on Windows; that's where they're gonna focus their efforts.

[Rigby]

For those who didn't believe I was telling the truth 
http://circuitmaker.com
Yes, they have resurrected the old name Circuit Maker which I think is a most excellent choice.
You can sign up on that site.

Done. Thank you!

[miguelvp]

For those who didn't believe I was telling the truth 
http://circuitmaker.com
Yes, they have resurrected the old name Circuit Maker which I think is a most excellent choice.
You can sign up on that site.

Done. Thank you!

Same here, and same Thank you!

[DerekG]

Yes, they have resurrected the old name Circuit Maker which I think is a most excellent choice.

I would agree.

Now a history lesson for those who are newer to the industry.

Protel licences MicroCode Engineering in the USA to further develop their AutoTrax code for their own purposes (actually in the early 1990's).

Altium (Protel changed its name) reckons MicroCode have done such a fantastic job that in 1998 they buy MicroCode lock, stock & barrel.

Altium sell MicroCode's PCB design software (called CircuitMaker 2000 & CircuitMaker 2000 Pro) for a couple of years (for AUD$1000 to $1500) before canning it.

Altium figures it made a mistake & is now attempting to resurrect it.

https://www.eevblog.com/forum/altium/altium-designer-new-pricing-model-and-high-end-low-end-tool-in-development/msg405586/#msg405586

Altium is continuously lost & so goes around in circles (remember - the HQ move from Australia to the USA, then back to Australia, then to China, now back to the USA).

Altium just never thinks anything through. Just like their acquisition of Morfik. A complete waste of shareholders money.

[IanJ]

Hi all,

Been out of it for a day or so....so may have missed something.......So is that background image on the beta site the new app?

I played with it a bit in ACDSEE so could view it better.

Ian.

[neslekkim]

For those who didn't believe I was telling the truth 
http://circuitmaker.com
Yes, they have resurrected the old name Circuit Maker which I think is a most excellent choice.
You can sign up on that site.

Registered, thanks!!

[_Sin]

Hi all,

Been out of it for a day or so....so may have missed something.......So is that background image on the beta site the new app?

I played with it a bit in ACDSEE so could view it better.

Ian.

If it is, they're editing a local file in it

I've signed up to try to get on the beta. I'm certainly not ruling it out until I see how the thing works in practice, but as noted before my home internet is crap and I do a lot of work on the move with no connection - so we'll see.

I will have to stick Windows on my laptop though as I'm one of these evil/ignorant/whatever OSX users.

Personally I'd welcome something that was *mostly* cloud based, in the sense that I could fire up an editor on a choice of machines and have access to my projects, I'm only concerned about it not working without a connection, and not being able to have a local back-up/export option.

[ludzinc]

For those who didn't believe I was telling the truth 
http://circuitmaker.com
Yes, they have resurrected the old name Circuit Maker which I think is a most excellent choice.
You can sign up on that site.

Thanks for the heads up Dave - I too have registered!

Is it sad that I'm actually excited about this?

[ludzinc]

Hi all,

Been out of it for a day or so....so may have missed something.......So is that background image on the beta site the new app?

I played with it a bit in ACDSEE so could view it better.

Ian.

If it is, it looks good. 

Okay, new tool, new things to learn but Altium, PLEASE keep P T and * as shortcuts for routing!!

[kwallen]

Free to start, and extendable through purchased enhancements, so you can expand the software as your designs become more complex and challenging.

That's a bit ominous, can only assume they mean that it will be heavily gimped and the "enhancements" will add back crucial features that you actually need to make the software useful.

[janoc]

And none of them use Linux.

Really? There are tons of desktop Linux users around, especially among the electronics hobbyists. You would be surprised how many of those shiny Macs actually sport a Linux distribution on them.

Never mind all that Raspberry Pi crowd (granted, those likely aren't going to run Altium on them).

J.

[neslekkim]

Hi all,

Been out of it for a day or so....so may have missed something.......So is that background image on the beta site the new app?

I played with it a bit in ACDSEE so could view it better.

Ian.

If it is, it looks good. 

Okay, new tool, new things to learn but Altium, PLEASE keep P T and * as shortcuts for routing!!

There is a screenshot here also: http://blog.circuitmaker.com/#Blogs/circuitmaker-community-03-09-14

[EEVblog]

Been out of it for a day or so....so may have missed something.......So is that background image on the beta site the new app?

Yes, that's the new GUI.

[tszaboo]

For those who didn't believe I was telling the truth 
http://circuitmaker.com
Yes, they have resurrected the old name Circuit Maker which I think is a most excellent choice.
You can sign up on that site.

This looks like what we asked for. I'm still holding the word "incredible" back.