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Altium About To Slash Prices On Designer?
Posted by
EEVblog
on 09 Aug, 2017 04:28
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#1 Reply
Posted by
EEVblog
on 09 Aug, 2017 04:43
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Never heard of HUGE discount on the software itself.
They did it back in 2009. Slashed the price "permanently" by 75%.
http://www.eetimes.com/document.asp?doc_id=1311978I was in the room when they made the announcement to staff. The CEO didn't like it and eventually quit/was pushed out.
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#2 Reply
Posted by
floobydust
on 09 Aug, 2017 05:08
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Peer got it last month for USD $4,500 as he has home projects he wants to work on, instead of staying late at work.
The price was based on their year-end blowout. He didn't get a subscription, as far as I know. Not sure if the seats at his workplace are also a factor in the price.
None of the engineers I know want cloud CAD software. It's extremely fragile in terms of commitment to it being around/usable in many years, and not getting screwed over and forced into costly "upgrades" etc., and security of this cloud, and being able to work offline, and... I could go on about how terrible an idea it is. The suits have no understanding.
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#3 Reply
Posted by
lty1993
on 09 Aug, 2017 08:10
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My friend got his license last month at $5300, and 1y subscription for $1900.
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#4 Reply
Posted by
Araho
on 09 Aug, 2017 11:03
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I got a call from an Altium sales representative just a couple of weeks ago. If I had heard this, I'd probably try to squeeze out a license for home project use
Unfortunately, I just told them I'm not in a design position currently, so I wasn't using the software and wouldn't be for a while.
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#5 Reply
Posted by
ajb
on 09 Aug, 2017 16:58
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Autodesk just released a preview of Eagle<->Fusion 360 ECAD/MCAD collaboration, which seems to be the functionally similar to the AD/SolidWorks thing that never really seemed to go anywhere. So perhaps Altium is feeling a bit of pressure there, after making so much marketing hay out of the switch to a subscription model for Eagle*.
I wouldn't be at all surprised if in another couple of years Autodesk came out with a much improved Eagle replacement with the goal of doing to Altium what they've been doing to SolidWorks with Fusion 360. Sure, it will be a while before it reaches full feature parity with AD, if it ever does, but there's a lot of market share in hobbyists/entrepreneurs/small businesses that need some pro level features but can't or don't want to drop $10k on a single seat of a high-end software package if they can get something that has 60+% of the features for $30/mo--which is exactly what's made Fusion so successful.
* As if Eagle's subscription was really any worse than Altium's stay-subscribed-forever-if-you-want-any-updates extortion model.
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Hi ajb,
Our ECAD/MCAD is now OEM'd to SOLIDWORKS so the marketing/sales/support channels are all with SOLIDWORKS (a Dassault Systemes company). We provide them with the SOLIDWORKS PCB tool as well as a connector for AD - see below. Our PCB developer and Product Manager teams work with their Specification and Product Management teams, who specify requirements that are strongly focused on the perspective of the MCAD user. This relationship is working very well because it is making the collaboration much more MCAD friendly with each new release.
Connector
For Altium Designer users, the "SOLIDWORKS PCB Connector" product may be purchased from SOLIDWORKS, to enable ECAD/MCAD collaboration between Altium Designer and their SOLIDWORKS CAD tool. Please check out solidworkspcb.com which redirects to their ELECTRONICS DESIGN page.
Best regards,
James Harriman
Altium
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#7 Reply
Posted by
D3f1ant
on 10 Aug, 2017 02:45
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I wouldn't recommend the MCAD plugin to anyone.
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#8 Reply
Posted by
Gibson486
on 10 Aug, 2017 18:40
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I asked for a quote for a SE license (schematic only) a few days ago. My rep still has not got back to me....
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#10 Reply
Posted by
Pseudobyte
on 11 Aug, 2017 16:05
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Altium should run a deal like that, and I would buy myself a copy.
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#11 Reply
Posted by
asmi
on 11 Aug, 2017 17:02
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So would I. I'm really tempted to pick up that OrCAD offer but I've never worked with their software before (for obvious reasons - I'm a hobbyist and don't have bazillions of money).
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#12 Reply
Posted by
jc101
on 11 Aug, 2017 17:31
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Oh this is interesting, I've been using Circuit Studio for a while now but keep going to use a feature only to discover it's not in there. I can workaround most but it's just a pain. Will have to keep an eye out on this as CS sub is due fairly soon...
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#13 Reply
Posted by
D3f1ant
on 11 Aug, 2017 20:20
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Anybody tried the Maker verison of PADS?
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#15 Reply
Posted by
AndyC_772
on 11 Aug, 2017 20:38
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So would I. I'm really tempted to pick up that OrCAD offer but I've never worked with their software before (for obvious reasons - I'm a hobbyist and don't have bazillions of money).
...and at $430, you don't need to have. Not that I'm bitter having paid full price for it. I can't claim I haven't had value out of it, though; I use it every day to make a living.
OrCAD's learning curve is steep, there's no denying that, but when you've got to grips with it, you'll never need to learn another PCB tool. If you ever grow out of the 'PCB Designer Standard' level, you can seamlessly upgrade to the 'Professional' tier, and then on to full-blown Allegro.
I'm amazed OrCAD doesn't get more coverage. Even the most basic version is unrestricted in terms of board size, net list size and layer count, and even without the offer, it costs no more than a good quality TV or laptop.
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#16 Reply
Posted by
asmi
on 11 Aug, 2017 21:41
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...and at $430, you don't need to have. Not that I'm bitter having paid full price for it. I can't claim I haven't had value out of it, though; I use it every day to make a living.
I'm hobbyist and I know for fact that I won't ever make a dime out of it. I too have no problems throwing big bucks on tools that I use professionally because I know I will get a return on that investment. But PCB tool - however good it is - is not the tool I will be using professionally.
OrCAD's learning curve is steep, there's no denying that, but when you've got to grips with it, you'll never need to learn another PCB tool.
I don't care about learning curve. I've recently learnt KiCAD so OrCad can't be much worse than that.
If you ever grow out of the 'PCB Designer Standard' level, you can seamlessly upgrade to the 'Professional' tier, and then on to full-blown Allegro.
My problem is that is seems that I've already grown out of it. I design boards with FPGAs so I need to have "highspeed" features like differential traces routing, length matching, phase tuning, interactive routing and so on which from my cursory glance on the comparison chart are only present in "Professional" edition. So I will have to immediately do an upgrade. I couldn't find exactly how much that's going to cost, but just comparing retail prices it seems to be in the order of $4k. Which is waaaay above and beyond what I can afford and/or willing to spend on a hobby. The reason I went into KiCAD in the first place is exactly because I needed these features, and KiCAD have them (even if they are a bit buggy and "temperamental", but they are still there), while CAD I used to use didn't. My only real gripe with KiCAD is not so much lack of features, as it is lack of "polish" and consistency, and poor usability. So if that $430 offer does not have these functions, I will not gain anything by purchasing.
I'm amazed OrCAD doesn't get more coverage. Even the most basic version is unrestricted in terms of board size, net list size and layer count, and even without the offer, it costs no more than a good quality TV or laptop.
Well if you can afford to casually dump $4k+ on entertainment (which is what a hobby really is) - good for you. I can't
But thanks for your opinion anyway! It's good to know that OrCAD is apparently good enough for professional use!
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#17 Reply
Posted by
tszaboo
on 11 Aug, 2017 23:53
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It was a month ago, when the sales rep called me, that my subscription is ending, and after repeated calls, and mails, I did not order it again at full price. Like I could convince my managers to spend 1000+ on getting updates for a year. He told me what am I going to miss. The updates, the vault, free pizza every friday... OK, you finished? It is beyond my control.
If they wanted to compete with this orcad pricing, they pretty much would kill circuit studio. Not a huge loss. I could imagine a basic version, which only has SCH capture and PCB. No embedded, no FPGA, no simulation. Nobody uses them anyway.
But would they go below the pricing of their subscription? And modules will cost multiple times the base software???
On the other hand, stranger things have happened. I would even buy it for home at that price.
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I decided to order it on Friday; I'll keep you posted on how it goes as I have never used the layout before.
I asked about ongoing maintenance and the rep told me it is optional and the same as what I am paying to buy it ($430).
It comes with training (manuals are being mailed to me) and then I log into an online course.
Also a subscription to a supposed 12 million part library...ultra librarian? Capture symbols, allegro fps, and step...sounds too good...
Capture is easy, I've heard layout portion has a steeper leaner curve, but more robust and not as buggy as Altium. I need stability - sick of using free, unpredictable software - not looking for more of the same.
I have a Windows 10 64 bit machine; was told there would be no issues.
Will let you know how this ends up.
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Let us know how the manuals and training are. I did use Orcad in the early 2000 but have forgotten most of it
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#20 Reply
Posted by
asmi
on 14 Aug, 2017 12:56
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I've requested a trial version of this package to evaluate if it will work for me. Hopefully I will try it out in the coming days.
Let us know how the manuals and training are. I did use Orcad in the early 2000 but have forgotten most of it
I watched few tutorial videos on YouTube, and it doesn't seem too bad, except for PCB footprints creation, which is over complicated IMHO with the concept of padstacks as a separate entity, but otherwise OK.
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#21 Reply
Posted by
floobydust
on 14 Aug, 2017 16:22
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The CAD lifecycle:
Little CAD co. makes good CAD software
Mr. Big corporation buys little CAD co.
Crank up the price
Spam it by adding half-assed features
Bugs and complexity go up
Crank up the price
Add useless features
Crank up the price
Customers flee to other product
Crank up the price
Lower the price
Mr. Big corporation abandons that CAD development and support
Crank up the price
Mr. Big corporation sells off Little CAD co. line
Repeat
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#22 Reply
Posted by
trevwhite
on 18 Aug, 2017 09:07
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In the middle of a project so not a lot of time, but I wanted to circle back and at least state that i'm glad I pulled the trigger on the deal. Capture is easy to use. The PCB tool is not as intuitive but I get the sense that is because I am new to it and that there is a lot of depth to it. I would be struggling if the package didn't include the training manuals, but it did and that is what I am using. Once I have more time I will add to this, but that's all i've got for now.
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#24 Reply
Posted by
asmi
on 24 Aug, 2017 19:54
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In the middle of a project so not a lot of time, but I wanted to circle back and at least state that i'm glad I pulled the trigger on the deal. Capture is easy to use. The PCB tool is not as intuitive but I get the sense that is because I am new to it and that there is a lot of depth to it. I would be struggling if the package didn't include the training manuals, but it did and that is what I am using. Once I have more time I will add to this, but that's all i've got for now.
I agree. Once you get over initial hump, it all suddenly starts making a lot of sense
I also would like to note that their support is also extremely good. After I migrated from Std version to Pro, there were some issues with not all tools picking up on this change, but a working solution has been offered in mere minutes. FE is quick and helpful. The only negative so far is that I had few crashes of both PCB Editor and Capture, but that might be on me as I was doing something stupid
I'm still trying to come up with some sort of way to organise all those symbols/padstacks/footprints/3d models in a way that would make sense
I use free version of PCB Library Expert for creating footprints and 3D models right now.