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from the slow-death-of-proprietary-software dept.
EAGLE, The Easily Applicable Graphical Layout Editor is an ECAD (electronic computer-aided design), proprietary software for creating printed circuit boards. Cadsoft, the company that created it, sold EAGLE to Autodesk in June.
Hackaday reports
Autodesk has announced that EAGLE is now only available for purchase as a subscription. [Previously], users purchased EAGLE once and [could use] the software indefinitely (often for years) before deciding to move to a new version with another one-time purchase. Now, they'll be paying Autodesk on a monthly or yearly basis.
Before Autodesk purchased EAGLE from Cadsoft, a Standard license would run you $69, paid once. [...] Standard will [now] cost $15/month or $100/year and gives similar functionality to the old Premium level, but with only 2 signal layers.
[...] The next level up was Premium, at $820, paid once. [...] If you [now] need more [than 2] layers or more than 160 [sq.cm] of board space, you'll need the new Premium level, at $65/month or $500/year.
New Subscription Pricing Table for Eagle[...] The [freeware] version still exists, but, for anyone using Eagle for commercial purposes (from Tindie sellers to engineering firms), this is a big change. Even if you agree with the new pricing, a subscription model means you never actually own the software. This model will require licensing software that needs to phone home periodically and can be killed remotely. If you need to look back at a design a few years from now, you better hope that your subscription is valid, that Autodesk is still running the license server, and that you have an active internet connection.
The page has well over 100 comments, with many saying the equivalent of "Goodbye, EAGLE; Hello, KiCAD".
KiCAD is gratis and libre, cross-platform, has been adopted as a software development project by nerds at CERN, and has seen marked improvement in recent years.
Previous:
CERN is Getting Serious About Development of the KiCAD App for Designing Printed Circuits
Scripts Make the (Proprietary) Cadsoft EAGLE-to-(FOSS) KiCAD Transition Easier
Some time back, anubi and I conversed about how EAGLE has been DRM'd for quite a long while.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Sunday January 22 2017, @06:23AM
I know all too well your unholy devotion to old friends. With me, its Futurenet Dash-2 and Pads PCB for DOS.
Its all about knowing I can still read/modify/write files I created a quarter-century ago. And this access will exist for as long as I live.
Programs once running on the 8086 will still run in DOS emulators on modern machines, albeit I have quite a few 386SX I have kept around expressly to run these natively. I particularly liked the 386SX because of its low power consumption and had no fan required, and the motherboards I saved were made with components designed to last at least a century if protected from the weather.
Its been a common observation of mine that those higher up in the administrative levels of corporations have not the foggiest idea of just how valuable the wiring diagrams to their infrastructure are.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]