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New eagle licensing -> goodbye Eagle

SpacedCowboy

So, I've used Eagle now for over 10 years. In all that time I've always upgraded to the latest version, but that's just stopped.

 

I have multiple computers, and I use multiple locations. I've always only ever used one instance of Eagle at a time, and I've never given the license details to anyone else. Unfortunately, the latest way in which Eagle is licensed is way too restrictive for me to work with the product as I have done for over a decade now.

 

The problem is two-fold:

  • You are only allowed to install on 2 (which is pitiful!) computers if you have a single user license.
  • You cannot use a flexlm-based license for a single-user license.

 

The combination of those two things means I can't duplicate the setup I currently have, so this is the classic example of how proprietary software owners can screw you over without you having any recompense or workaround, despite you being a paying and loyal customer for an extended period of time. I don't consider cracking the software to be an adequate workaround.

 

So, if I'm going to have to spend $$$ in the thousands, I'll take a good look at the competition first, and even at the freebies like kikad. Eagle has major shortcomings anyway - no "bus routing" and the differential pair support is poor at best. I think, with this decision, cadsoft couldn't have done more to help along the freebies, and lose the people who might some day splash the cash and go for the pro option.

 

A primary rule for any software "upgrade" is "don't break the existing workflows". Eagle v7 is completely useless to me, not because of its feature-set, not because of any price issues, but because the management is being pants-on-head moronic about how it goes about licensing. Licensing, of all things.

 

Very disappointed.

  • in reply to autodeskguest

    Jorge,

     

    Excellent news, sir.  Even though CadSoft is part of a much larger

    company, I'm glad you still have a small company mentality that's not

    too big or has too many management layers to listen.  Thank you for

    listening to your customers.  I'm sure you'll find a solution for your

    markets where piracy is suspected that doesn't adversely impact your

    existing customers.

     

    With great appreciation and kindest regards,

        - Chuck

     

     

     

    Attachments:
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  • in reply to e14 Contributor

    kirash4 prodded the keyboard

     

    Thank you for listening to your customers.

     

    I agree !  Its a nice change !

     

    --

    Best Regards:

                           Baron.

     

  • in reply to autodeskguest

    Thank you for listening to your customers! I will now consider upgrading to 7.0.

  • in reply to autodeskguest

    Thankyou, much appreciated. I will now upgrade image

  • Hello All,

     

    In light of all of the issues of the new licensing mechanism, we have

    decided to revert to our licensing scheme. There will no longer be a

    requirement to use a HostID or FlexLM server.

     

    Thank you all for your feedback.

     

    Best Regards,

    Jorge Garcia

     

     

  • in reply to dukepro

    AAh, sorry just how I tend to talk about timezones. They have a -16 hour time difference from us. Just as we're getting into the office they're heading home.  (it's yesterday evening for them) End result is the same, we can't upgrade to v7. There is an alternative, the company is moving the Zueken, and this is going to push us that way. Their licensing is way worse, but it is supported by IT and they'll do what is needed to make it run.

     

    This is the 2nd company I've brought eagle to. First purchased a v4 license (now v6), and I'm sad to see this come to an end. It feels like losing a friend.

  • in reply to e14 Contributor

    On 07/30/2014 01:11 PM, kirash4 wrote:

    Perhaps they meant 16-hours driving?

     

    Or perhaps a 16-hour difference in time and workday combination?  About

    the time his shop is closing the IT department is opening, thus putting

    any response in the start of his next workday - 16 hours away.

     

     

  • in reply to e14 Contributor

    kirash4 wrote:

     

    They lost another customer not to mention the many friends I've originally recommended Eagle too who are now also leaving.

     

    That's a good point. Not only will CadSoft lose my future revenue; there will also be the admittedly small effect that at some point my open-source hardware designs will be developed in some tool other than Eagle. While there's presently only a small handful of people who pay attention to my open hardware due to its niche application, I can imagine that if this licensing change induces other open hardware contributors to switch from Eagle to something else (most likely KiCad), that will have some impact upon which CAD tools new engineers will select based on their experiences with public projects from more experienced designers.

     

    I get the impression that there has been a long rivalry between Eagle and KiCad at the low end of the PCB CAD spectrum. I believe that this change will inevitably tip the scales much more towards KiCad in that area. Perhaps CadSoft/Farnell have decided they don't care so much about the low-end, and want to go after higher end users? That won't fly, though, because Eagle isn't even close to being real competition to products from the like of Mentor, Cadence and Altium. The primary reason I picked Eagle Professional for my personal use vs. Mentor PADS that I use at work, is that I didn't want to use pirated software and PADS is priced way too high for a home user; even one like me who's willing to pay $1,500 for CAD software for hobby use. Oh, yeah, PADS also has obnoxious licensing enforcement that causes all of the expected headaches. But in terms of capability, there's no competition between PADS and Eagle. I wouldn't dream of using Eagle for the types of things I do at work, such as a recent 18-layer PCB with hundreds of multi-GHz impedance-matched diff pair nets.

     

    I strongly feel that this is a foot-shooting move on CadSoft/Farnell's part.

  • I guess v6.6.0 will be my last one as well. I use Eagle on two separate workstations as well as my laptop that I travel with. All of them are single instances, meaning I'm not running them at the same time. However, our machines do go through upgrades/replacements at least once a year (at different intervals) and to have to deal with hostids and what not each and every time, not to mention needing at least two licenses (since it's possible to install one license on two machines), it's just not worth it anymore. This was a bad move on CADSoft/Farnell and I wish them the best in the future. They lost another customer not to mention the many friends I've originally recommended Eagle to who are now also leaving.