Re: World's worst software. What's decent?

From: Robert Hoffman (bob_at__I_Get_too_much_spam.com)
Date: 10/18/04 

Date: Mon, 18 Oct 2004 07:32:08 -0400

It will take me a while, but I can probably come up with a review
chart. I'm sure I have not looked at every possible CAD package, but I
have looked at many. I'm not an amateur at this; I've been laying out
boards for a good 30 years, starting with tape and dots and rubylith. I
use AutoCad now. My expectations are different for software intended
for hobby, student, single-user and enterprise. I basically ignored the
hobby and student versions. I have no need or budget for the enterprise
packages. Altium and the other packages that cost several thousand
dollars per seat are outside my envelope. The free packages which are
tied to specific PC board houses are not useful to me. I need the
option of placing my order with whichever company I choose. I do more
precision analog than digital so the autorouter is not as important to
me. I don't do too many buried vias or boards over 8 layers. I think it
is perfectly reasonable that packages for my requirements should be
under $1000.

Software should be intuitive. Several companies try to sell packages
with DOS heritage. They simply stitch together a bunch of obsolete junk
with a top-level menu and no integration. Or, their user interface is
so complicated that it takes several minutes of clicking around to find
how to insert a part.

Several companies think that colored lines on a black background are
acceptable. Very hard to read. I prefer a white background. Many like
to use a vast number of very small icons. Even on a 21 inch monitor
they are almost unreadable.

Several companies (like Eagle) make very poor use of the mouse. Windows
software needs to conform to the Windows standard. Left-click to
select, right-click for properties and actions. Virtually all actions
in a CAD program should be available from only the mouse buttons. You
should never have to go up to a button bar for delete, move, mirror,
etc.

Some have poor licensing options. Boardmaker wants you to pay a yearly
license fee. Their option for a permanent license is expensive. Some
have serial numbers that are keyed to a specific computer. I don't mind
a hardware "dongle", but I don't want to pay another fee just to move
the package to another computer. I need to be able to upgrade and
reconfigure my hardware as necessary. The company needs to be stable so
I can get support if necessary. I'd be reluctant to buy from someone
operating from their garage.

The only one so far that seems pretty reasonable is Easy-PC. It has
better functionality and features than even some of the really expensive
packages. There are a few quirks but it seems like a good value and I'm
going to buy a copy. I don't have time to survey every package on the
market. It runs close to $2,000 if you buy all the pieces, but you can
get get a pin-limited version for just schematics and boards for under
$200. Their integrated SPICE is nice. They have an interesting filter
design module. Expanded libraries, a more sophisticated autotouter and
a Gerber import module are also extra cost. The full-up schematic and
PCB part without the extras is about $800. I'm going to get everything
except the fancier autorouter. They don't seem to advertise very well.
When I do internet searches a lot of really cruddy packages show up.
They would do well to pay the fee and get themselves listed as a
sponsored link on Google. They also have no on-line ordering. I expect
they could sell a lot more copies if they addressed those two issues.

Robert Sefton wrote:
>
>
> Robert -
>
> Any chance you can post some brief comments and complaints about the
> packages you've looked at?
>
> Rob