A Tale of Two CAD Programs

Once upon a time there was a little company  that produced a little schematic and PCB layout tool called Eagle.  It was a frightfully awkward little tool to use, but it had a version that was free so many people flocked to it. Although the free version was limited in board size, layers, nodes, functionality, personality and user friendliness, it was free, so many people flocked to it.

It soon became the de-facto standard of open source hardware designs everywhere, which, unfortunately was also very limiting in what kind of hardware could be developed. Now, for a "nominal fee", you could upgrade to allow bigger boards, more layers and more electrical nodes and the users of the free software could view the designs created thus from afar, but alas, could not modify them or make much use of them in any way.

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Eventually the little company was gobbled up by a large electronics components vendor who we shall refer to as "F" (the names have been changed to protect the innocent - me). F even created a online community to push their new acquisition very hard and called it "Silicon"  They trumpeted their new acquisition to existing customers far and wide extolling its virtues.  "At last !" the users cried, "something might be finally done to improve the awkward little program. " But alas, the big company decided that while the free version would still stay free, it would still remain limited in functionality.  Instead of investing in making the little program less awkward, they would "improve it" by building in links to their preferred board manufacturers and their own  inventory to secure their territories and borders. 

About the same time as the little company was gobbled up by "F", another large electronics component distributor "R" had a different idea. "Why don't we create an online community of designers, engineers, students, hobbyists and entrepreneurs and give them a tool that can actually make them productive?" R sought out a maker of professional PCB design tools with a long, successful track record and had them produce a version of their professional grade software R could distribute for free.  R called the program and the web community both DesignSpark. They even made sure there was a home there for refugees from the free Eagle software kingdom to migrate their designs and open them up to virtually unlimited horizons. 

The DesignSpark software was so much more advanced than the little Eagle program, allowing boards as large as any manufactuer could make with up to 14 layers and no node limit restriction. And did I mention it was free? The user interface was much like that of programs costing thousands and tens of thousands of dollars. It could almost march in "cadence" with the Borg of the circuit board design world. 

We had searched for many years for a program with which to share our designs with the masses, but alas they were far too complex for the little free Eagle program.. We had almost been lured in by Eagle and had spent large amounts of money with "F" to try out the unlimited version, but fortunately only indentured for a year. Having used a professional commercial product for years, the transition to Eagle was like that of being reduced to the technology of the last century. Black crepe or red and blue transparent tape might have been faster.

Finally, we heard about DesignSpark from halfway around the world. An irrascible Australian chap with a video blog and not afraid to use it put us on the trail of DesignSpark. Learing to use it was fast, having many of the same features and characteristics of the professional software we had used for years. While it still lacks some of the more refined feature, R is very responsive to recommendations and cronstructive criticisms alike. They seem to want to improve the functionality of the tool rather than consolodate power through it. 

The DesignSpark software is a year old now, and while many still throng to the sad little free Eagle program, drawn in by its acolytes who refuse to give up on it, many more are discovering the  "free PCB package that can" at DesignSpark. Now, at last, companies like ours can share much more complex designs to the masses who can make use of them, edit them as needed for their own ends and innovation can blossom.  No longer is open source hardware limited in board size and complexity. Now we can have a common design interchange format with customers and vendors alike. 

We have been using it at Celeritous for about 6 months now and have done several new designs with it as well as migrated several existing designs for our commercial tool to DesignSpark. We have become active in the community and have both asked and answered questions. We are proud to be a DesignSpark Partner and look forward to the continual improvements they plan to make. 

If you havent heard of DesignSpark I urge you to go check it out. Download it, try it and for you Eagle diehards, import your design and never look back.