Re: PCB CAD

info_at_bostonsemiconductor.com
Date: 12/18/04 

Date: 17 Dec 2004 18:32:14 -0800

Are we really discussing whether open source is a viable option for
mission critical development?

Has anyone ever used emacs to write source code to tape out a chip, or
write a line of C++ or assembler for a shipped executable? And how
would that C++ have been compiled, nobody uses a GNU compiler right?
How many boards, chips, executables can anyone really ship without
touching an open source tool along the way? I bet there aren't that
many.

Check out the Altera website. They have 14,000 (paying) customers and
made over $800 million last year. Or the Xilinx website. A swarthy
group of "mission critical" customers gave them 1.4 billion last year.
Each of them _ship_ cygwin and GCC as part of their development flow.
Last I checked, those tools are open source.

I have an idea - just the one, I'm good for one a day and this is it.
Rather than throwing rocks, why don't the folks who think closed source
is a good idea try rationalizing it. Make a case for it - what are
it's inherit benefits? How are customers better off when they use it?
Stop making a case against open source development - it's not worth
your time, right? Start making a case _for_ closed source.

If we all listened when someone said, "you can't do that", we'd never
do anything.

Chris

Don Prescott wrote:
> Re........
>
> These tools are written
> > *for*, and used *by* folks at the low and middle segments of the
CAD
> > marketplace. They are ideal for students, hobbiests, educators,
and
> > small-time consultants
>
> You wrote an awful lotta stuff, but then agreed with what I said...
> YES, open source CAD applications are probably OK for "students,
> hobbiests, educators, and small-time consultants". Generally
> speaking, nobody uses these sort of products when you need to get a
> commercial product out the door.....(mission critical). Why
> not...???? 'cos you're much more concerned with the $$$KKK than
> playing around with some home-grown piece of code...
>
> Oh.... please don't tell me about apache and linux (again), thems was
> never what I was talking about...
>
> Prescott

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Whats the story with the "end of XP"?
    ... You can't call yourself an expert in cryptography without a solid familiarity with some of the most used algorithms and implementations - programs like GPG, OpenSSH and OpenSSL are known to be among the most secure solutions precisely because there are so many interested and capable people who have studied their source code. ... There is overwhelming statistical evidence that serious flaws in major open source software projects are fixed quickly - generally far faster than in comparable closed source projects. ... And there are people who feel that anyone can use whatever license they want, but that they personally will only use FOSS. ...
    (comp.arch.embedded)
  • Re: GNU Public Licences Revisited (again)
    ... > Can you agree that Open Source, in itself, is a good thing? ... mass-market situation. ... give customers the source code - to protect yourself from problems caused by ...
    (comp.programming)
  • FLOSS for e-learning
    ... participants as documentation on the issues and concerns related to the ... Free and Open Source Software for e-learning ... Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) has become an international ... Access to the source code is a precondition for this; ...
    (comp.os.linux.announce)
  • Re: PHP Classes suggestions (was Re: Recommendations for PHP Form Validation Script)
    ... > particular format is going to add anything meaningful. ... > dependency tree system with multiple possible package branches. ... > Well, this can happen to anyone, whether your project/service is open source ... so I will not Open the Source code of the site. ...
    (comp.lang.php)
  • Re: I was told that "I dont understand how Open Source works."
    ... Proper support from somebody who knows the product is as vital ... > under Open Source as anywhere else. ... and use that source code to create what they need, ... also means that releasing the source code is easier for the author ...
    (comp.os.linux.misc)