Eagle is now subscription-based...

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jack
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#1 Eagle is now subscription-based...

Post by jack »

Not sure how many folk here actually design PCBs, but...

...as all Eagle users will know, Autocad acquired Eagle from Premier Farnell at the start of the year and Eagle 8, the new version, has a completely different licensing model - it's now subscription based, starting at USD 15/pcm for the "standard" version and going up to USD 65/pcm for the "professional" ones.

I'm a long-time Eagle user, probably for more than 15 years, so have a lot invested in it in terms of libraries and existing designs.

However, I can stake USD 100/pa (the annual up-front cost of the USD 15/pcm option). but you need to be connected to the internet every couple of weeks for your Eagle license to stay active. If it expires, I'm told that you can still generate Gerbers from your old designs and even export in the old V7 format using the free version - our old licenses and software will keep working.

What have Eagle folk here done about this - just wondering... It annoys me slightly, but I guess the previous licensing model was not paying the bills and Autocad are promising great things...

I'm now seriously considering Altium Circuit Studio...

Thoughts?
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Nick
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#2 Re: Eagle is now subscription-based...

Post by Nick »

I like it, it removes the rather painful entry point for the full blown version from £1500 to about £600 a year. It also means that with things like the shunt supplies I am working on with Andrew, LDA can pay (not that I am at the moment) for a subscription licence for him and it only costs me if he does any work. (He does work all the time, not suggesting anything other, but YKWIM :-)).

As to if its worth it, it depends on how much they invest in making it worth paying every year. Time will tell.
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#3 Re: Eagle is now subscription-based...

Post by jack »

So you've stuck with Eagle...

I'm still 50/50 staying Eagle or going Circuit Studio...

CS allows you to import all your Eagle stuff and have access to all of Altium's huge component catalogue.... supposed to be quite intuitive to use, but, hey, anything is intuitive compared to Eagle....

There's a bit of me that says "go for a professional product" but up to now Eagle has been fine...
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#4 Re: Eagle is now subscription-based...

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Its down to inertia and the cost in time getting used to another toolchain.
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#5 Re: Eagle is now subscription-based...

Post by jack »

Nick wrote: Sun Aug 13, 2017 5:34 pm Its down to inertia and the cost in time getting used to another toolchain.
Completely agree.

I still believe that the right technical decision is to go to CircuitMaker, but lack of bandwidth to manage the transition means I just paid the money to Autodesk for 1 year's Standard license - I used to be on Premium with 7.7.

I tried to buy the license out here in the UAE to avoid the scourge of VAT, but it's not sold in this region. Can't buy off the USA site as you need a US address to do that... so bit the bullet and bought off the UK site - GBP 114 incl. VAT for a year - annoying as it's only USD 100 in the US...

I'll see how much value AD add to the product over the next year before thinking about a move again...
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