Altium support of CircuitStudio

The element14 Community doesn't have a partnership with Altium (it never did).

element14 Community's parent 'group', Farnell, Newark and element14 Asia/Pacific region (eg. https://au.element14.com) sell Altium CircuitStudio.

That's where any association/agreement ends currently as far as I am aware.

I am not sure if you are saying the same thing as

https://www.element14.com/news/element14-now-offering-altiums-circuitstudio-following-master-distribution-agreement/

I can't tell.

So the link shows that 7 years ago, managers from Altium and Element14/Farnell wet their pants because of the agreement for exclusive distribution by Farnell of CS.

Doesn't mean a darned thing to the users.  I won't be paying for maintenance this year for CS.  I see no visible progress in producing an upgraded product which was "sort of promised" to us.

I think we're getting jerked around while they play with their best marketing model that carries them into the future.

CS has ZERO support from what I've seen on this forum in the past few years.  When a product or key feature no longer functions as intended and there is nothing but crickets, it is an orphan product, zero support.

I like CS and really want a product at its price point that can do much of what AD does.

I also do not expect AD at a CS price but Altium needs to tell us what is going on.  Give a target date for release of the beta 3 or beyond CM Pro or tell us that you're not going to and CS is dead.

jonhpeterson said:

I am not sure if you are saying the same thing as

As said, that link is from 2015. 

At that time, there was a dedicated software support team, and they operated on the element14 Community.

That dedicated software support team from element14 apac/farnell/newark no longer exists. They communicated this poorly (read: not at all).

The element14 Community doesn't have a partnership with Altium (the 'parent group' did).

At one point, Farnell/Newark/element14 apac, were all going to be called 'element14' and we would be 'element14's community'. That rebranding never happened, and so the people that wrote that article, were a bit confused on branding.

I have tried to reach out to Altium, and those who're now in charge of software sales for our parent company for some kind of answer.

So far I haven't received anything sensible.

I have asked and Altium is very much working on a new CS release as they have mentioned previously. Unfortunately, with all the updates planned there are many delays and issues to resolve. 

Thanks for stepping in with a reply, it's appreciated.

For those to whom it may not be clear, elau works for Newark.

Another thanks for your reply.  If you can convey feedback, please share that Altium and Newark / Farnell really need a connection at least to this forum.  I deal with test equipment that has products up to several hundred thousand $$.  Yet still, companies like Keysight, Tektronix and others have some presence on several hobby forums because they know those active buy new stuff by day.

Perhaps some small fee, like double the maintenance fee, with email support, is possible.  Use younger Altium recruits to keep cost down and help them learn.

I hate to add this and you may not have a connection but please tell Altium that if the list costs $xxxx to implement and release for a product that brings in $xx, then please trim the list and get it out !  Thanks again for being here and any help you can offer.

Thanks for checking.  Any information at this point is appreciated.  CMP2 has been in beta testing for well more than a year now.  Perhaps they can release an official statement on their plans for a target release.  If it is already an improvement on the existing CS version 1.5.2 then it would be great to be able to use it even if there are known issues.

elau this really is GOOD news. MANY of us cannot afford AD (darn it). And I personally like the function, GUI, Ts&Cs.and organization of CS. I don't want to KiCAD nor AutoDesk-Eagle (their design limitations and bloat that comes with Fusion 360). And I also don't want to pay $500 to $700 USD for CS if it is not going to be updated and repaired. We need a robust eCAD, ie CS, that is loved by it's creator. We all understand the delays and issues involved with releasing complicated tools like CS. Version 1.5.2 was released March of 2019 -- but we are patient and waiting because we know it will be worth it.

My apologies for the lack of information from Altium. They are working very hard on CS 2.0 and resources are limited.
The new version will likely have updates more often. As I write this comment, I can assure everyone, Altium is indeed working on CS 2.0, it is no longer called CMP and I think it is coming very soon but they could not provide a date. I do ask every week because we are pretty anxious about this new version as well. :-)

johnpeterson, I am glad you are happy with where CS fits among EDA software. I think CS is a good option for many and offers something that the others don't. $500 is not much for such a capable tool even with the bugs. If you can use it, I would suggest purchase now as it is a perpetual license compared to Eagle with Fusion. Eval licenses are available to try out the tool for your particular project or function to ensure it works for what you need.
Altium will provide new version access to existing users as well. Please share your thoughts here. It is good feedback to Altium.

My apologies for the lack of information from Altium. They are working very hard on CS 2.0 and resources are limited.
The new version will likely have updates more often. As I write this comment, I can assure everyone, Altium is indeed working on CS 2.0, it is no longer called CMP and I think it is coming very soon but they could not provide a date. I do ask every week because we are pretty anxious about this new version as well. :-)

johnpeterson, I am glad you are happy with where CS fits among EDA software. I think CS is a good option for many and offers something that the others don't. $500 is not much for such a capable tool even with the bugs. If you can use it, I would suggest purchase now as it is a perpetual license compared to Eagle with Fusion. Eval licenses are available to try out the tool for your particular project or function to ensure it works for what you need.
Altium will provide new version access to existing users as well. Please share your thoughts here. It is good feedback to Altium.

Hi,

I have some feedback for you (and Altium):

Regarding your comment: " I think it is coming very soon "

although it's clear you work for Newark, how can you justify stating this, given that there's absolutely no known software development methodology that would result in a complete absence of a target release date : ) And in what universe does a software beta last for years : )
The CS customers have been fobbed off long enough, how is further speculation like this going to help?

Altium ought to provide their word, with a fixed date, and their word should be a bond, because that would be a promise to their customers. That's normal for every other customer-focussed firm on the planet.

Oh man !  I was all set for the weekend and you had to go introduce a dose of reality :-)  You are absolutely correct, of course.  A beta that lasts forever means a client with bottomless pockets.  A software product targeting hobby / low level pro does not fit that mold.

I find the news here very positive. It is enough to know that they are committed and that it is coming. It is not like CS is unusable. One can design new boards and send them to a fabricator and get back real PCBs today. elau posts don't read as speculation, but a sharing of what he can. I have worked in large software projects and, although we had targets, they were never released outside the company -- never. In fact, It appears quite the opposite. I can't think of a large software or hardware company that does. AMD/Intel put out roadmaps -- but the release date is always vague. So I, for one, am over the moon with the elau news: whether the next release comes in days or weeks.

Indeed, there are many reasons why companies will make public or not make public their release dates, but there is always a plan. Entry level CAD tools are a crucially important part of every EDA company's strategy to grow their user base by making a low-cost attractive version which caters to the next generation of designers, who will eventually need and be able to afford a full product license. These entry level products are not where these companies make their big profits, but without new user addiction strategies, their market share would decrease.

There are lots of tradeoffs that EDA companies must grapple with in providing entry level products. If they are too good, then users won't have an incentive to graduate to the more profitable tools. If they don't spend enough on making them decent, they won't attract new users.

The reason I liked Cadsoft Eagle was their highest end tool was already low cost and they had no incentive to cripple its performance. Their strategy led to a user base that was orders of magnitude larger than more expensive EDA tools, and chip manufacturer's were starting to supply Eagle libraries for their components. I don't know how this has changed since AutoCad acquired Eagle, but I'm sure that the large user base was a factor in why AutoCad made the Acquisition.

I can't believe Altium would give up on having a decent entry level tool, but like most of the others, it may always feel a bit crippled. It is never likely to be as good as their main product. However, if users like CS, I don't see a reason to give up on it.

Another road to increase user base is to buy a CAD company. Altium bought Accel/PCad, Mentor bought PADS, Cadence bought OrCad, Autodesk bought Eagle etc. After Cadence acquired OrCad, they eventually migrated the schematic capture portion of it to be their mainstream schematic capture tool, so all sorts of paths are possible.

Users always want more performance for less cost, while companies want more profit with less investment. I don't see much point in complaining about this reality, it mainly seems to lead to companies trying to disguise their strategy. I just vote by plunking my money down on the company I think is doing the best job. 

That makes no sense. You state " elau posts don't read as speculation, but a sharing of what he can." but the statement implicitly is complete speculation, read it for yourself again: "I think it is coming very soon but they [Altium] could not provide a date." What part of that is not speculation?

Altium have not provided their customer, whether they consider their customer to be Newark, or the customers of Newark, with any commitment if they provided Newark with no date, which Elau themselves states in black and white.

It takes some stretch to think the above is normal. 

Regarding your comment "I can't think of a large software or hardware company that does", well that's demonstrably untrue as well. Modern release cycles (including minor bug-fix releases) can be at regular scheduled intervals, on the understanding that the target date may move. Waiting years with still no target date on the horizon takes some seriously rosy-tinted specs to think that is normal practice. I'm not saying anything in Elau's comments are untrue, I'm merely stating that it's not normal, and you shouldn't be trying to make it appear that it is, given others may be trying to decision-make based on the when the next release may appear.

Everyone, thank you for all your comments. We have waited for this just like you guys have. I hope this new release is completed sooner than later. As I had mentioned, Altium does not have a release date to provide me but I am asking for status every week. I can say that it is close and we are working out last of the details.

@jonhpeterson, thank you for your positive comments. I can only say what Altium has cleared to say. I am not obligated to post information about this but just wanted to help calm some of the speculation as Altium is too busy to take part in the conversation. What is not speculation is Altium's commitment to CS. They are making a new version that is quite a departure from the previous one. I certainly hope everyone will like it.

@shabaz, I can appreciate how you feel about this. You are right, as I don't have a date from Altium my comment is very speculative. I think it is very soon only by judging from what they have left to do, but they have delayed the release before. Therefore, it is my best guess. They probably do have internal dates but that was not communicated to me.

For anyone who is deciding on purchasing CS, I recommend checking out the Free Eval to see if the current version will work for you as it is still a good tool at $500 for a perpetual license.  While Fusion+Eagle is especially great for its mechanical capabilities and includes much more features overall, one year of access is the cost of CS currently for a perpetual license. If CS works for your design flow, I certainly recommend it.

Any more news about the release date?

I am afraid not yet. Hopefully, it will be soon.

elau said:

Hopefully, it will be soon.

Based on my experience, soon could be years... :/