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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, @07:09AM
My fear is running these kind of subscription programs under Windows 10. I already had the pleasure of fixing problems that FTDI caused me by the nuking of some of my stuff by using the Microsoft Update system. My response was to redesign the PCB's to use the Chinese CH340 chip in lieu of the FTDI chip. I was very concerned that FTDI had grown so concerned with DRM that my concerns like whether or not my customer's stuff worked was of no importance anymore, leaving me holding the bag full of disgruntled customers.
I also disabled the Windows Update system in my WIN7 machines. Yes, I know maybe there is some viruses I am not protected against now, but I feel I am safe enough using these isolated machines to just do design work on, and they won't see the internet ( albeit they are networked to each other ). There is an air gap between that subnet and the internet. I use USB sticks/drives to transfer data files to/from internet - connected machines. Not completely secure, but I think I have a much less chance of coming in one day to discover none of my machines work because they got some surprise midnight upload from Microsoft.
Also, each machine gets its own CloneZilla backup disk just in case. I simply no longer trust Microsoft, Apple, Google, or Linux. Mostly because the systems have grown so complex that I no longer understand what each file is for and how it works. You could do anything conceivable to my DOS systems, and as long as you did not destroy the hardware, I would bob right back up. I tried to hold on under WIN95, but these latest systems, I am completely lost in ignorance, with the fear that my ignorance of how my stuff works will be used against me. All this DRM crap coming in on top of additional system complexities has simply overwhelmed me. I live in fear, like when I am required to sign legal contracts I have not read.
I feel that Windows 10, like Android, is mostly usable as an internet superhighway access device, much like I do not need to know how my car works to use the Interstate Highway system. I just bought some Android tablets that seem usable to me mostly as a device to find and buy stuff on the internet. I can't easily program the thing to do anything for me. That is what Arduinos are for.
I fear the Microsoft Update System will be used to enforce updates, with the customer's access to his own files to be held hostage, kinda like a legal cryptolocker.
Big corporations seem to have little problem with delivering problems, but when we little guys deliver stuff that does not work, we spend all of our time making good on our promises, and soon go out of business.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]