It is a matter of managing the customer expectations. They are are doing an *exceedingly bad* job in this area.
Situs was a major cornerstone of the initial DXP release. Look back at the SP fixes. Lots and lots of fixes in all of the other areas. I want that "world class autorouter" that I thought I was buying when I (in good faith, that by the final SP I'd have it) bought into DXP. Somewhere along the line the focus changed to the FPGA tools and embedded CPU's. Not necessarily a bad thing, But I expected more focus to be devoted to the autorouter. Implying that there will be an SP5 which fixes a long standing memory leak, and *then* withholding that fix and *then* twisting my arm (upgrade now or it will be more $$$ in the future) - That's just bad behavior, and I can't, and will not be, rewarding it. Sorry. The randomness of the length of time a product will be in Service Packs, vs the New Product Introduction, also leads to the surprises, and an inability to make plans. I bought in at Protel v3. At the time the cost of the whole product was $2995. The upgrade costs to AD6 are now equivalent. Yes I know it's much improved, it does more, cost of money and inflation, and *all* of that. Still, the upgrade costs have risen by a _lot_. Double what even 99SE used to be, and rising. Even MS has "critical updates" on past products for a long time after they are at end of life...... Not that I really have the $3000 to spend right now anyway, so it is a moot point. If I did though, I'd have to re-consider where to spend it - perhaps Electra.... ---Phil TK> This discussion is really getting old. It happens every time they release a TK> new version. People bitch and moan about not getting the upgrade for free TK> while at the same time they bitch and moan about annual maintenance costs TK> with other EDA software. You can't have it both ways. Either pony up the TK> money every year like you would with Orcad or PADS or whatever and get the TK> updates (if they come or not and if you've been following the Orcad camp, TK> you'll know the changes are miminal). Otherwise stay with Altium knowing you TK> don't have to pay any update fees (for bug fixes AND new features) and just TK> keep using the tool as-is. You should know by now that Atium will give 3 or TK> 4 services packs for "free" and then it's time to pay for the next one. TK> What's the big surprise? Do you expect them to keep updating the software TK> for 5 to 10 years with no revenue stream? I'm sure you don't. TK> Maybe to make people happy, they need to concentrate on purely fixing bugs TK> in the service packs and not adding ANY features until the bugs are gone. TK> People would bitch about that too. Some would say "why don't you add this TK> little cool feature now?" and Altium would have to reply: "It's not our TK> policy to add any features regardless of simplicity until we have the bugs TK> fixed in the existing code (regardless of how benign they are). I think they TK> have found a good balance of fixing lots of bugs and making the software TK> quite useable while at the same time giving people new features at no extra TK> cost. It's sort of like getting a meal for free at a restaurant when the TK> service has been bad. They are trying to redeem themselves and say yes we've TK> had some problems but let this be a token of our appreciation of you as a TK> customer. You want to eat for free for the rest of your life because someone TK> didn't cook your steak right once? TK> ----- Original Message ----- TK> From: "Joe Sapienza" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> TK> To: "Protel EDA Discussion List" <[email protected]> TK> Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 9:04 AM TK> Subject: Re: [PEDA] 6.0 ? >> Brad, >> >> Not only am I in the same situation financially speaking, It just seems as >> an ambush because personally I was expecting SP 5 long before the next >> major upgrade. I can't even get enough upgrade money before the end of Q1. >> I won't eeven step into the feeling of some of my clients which seem to be >> interested in a (financially) plannable platform. I can say for sure that >> many are looking at the competitive product. I'll say no more before I get >> slammed again. >> >> Joe >> >> >> ----- Original Message ----- >> From: "Brad Velander" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >> To: "Protel EDA Discussion List" <[email protected]> >> Sent: Monday, January 02, 2006 11:54 AM >> Subject: RE: [PEDA] 6.0 ? >> >> >> Dennis, >> It is absolutely hilarious that Altium is acting as such a company in such >> desperate despair and expects us to jump on the same bandwagon. I got a >> telephone message regarding the AD6.0 upgrade sometime between Dec 22nd >> and Dec 29th with the proviso that it was valid until the end of December. >> Well I was not in the office to take advantage of the offer, it just >> points out their ridiculous lack of real marketing effort. >> >> "Let's call everyone over the Xmas holidays and make them an offer that >> they most likely cannot exercise." Not taking into account anything like >> fiscal planning and budgets. What planet are these guys from, I thought >> Australia was a terrestrial location? Seems it is somewhere off-world but >> definitely not a place where they practice common business practices. With >> 8+ seats we are supposed to come up with $24K without any prior notice or >> even time within which to propose such an expenditure and receive >> approvals? Crazy, sheer lunacy! >> >> Sincerely, >> Brad Velander >> Senior PCB Designer >> Northern Airborne Technology >> #14 - 1925 Kirschner Road, >> Kelowna, BC, V1Y 4N7. >> tel (250) 763-2329 ext. 225 >> fax (250) 762-3374 >> >> >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: Dennis Saputelli [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] >> Sent: Friday, December 30, 2005 8:14 PM >> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; Protel EDA Discussion List >> Subject: Re: [PEDA] 6.0 ? >> >> >> >> yes, i guess the question is: >> is it worth doing ? >> >> ds >> >> >> ____________________________________________________________ >> You are subscribed to the PEDA discussion forum >> >> To Post messages: >> mailto:[email protected] >> >> Unsubscribe and Other Options: >> http://techservinc.com/mailman/listinfo/peda_techservinc.com >> >> Browse or Search Old Archives (2001-2004): >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] >> >> Browse or Search Current Archives (2004-Current): >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] >> >> >> >> ____________________________________________________________ >> You are subscribed to the PEDA discussion forum >> >> To Post messages: >> mailto:[email protected] >> >> Unsubscribe and Other Options: >> http://techservinc.com/mailman/listinfo/peda_techservinc.com >> >> Browse or Search Old Archives (2001-2004): >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] >> >> Browse or Search Current Archives (2004-Current): >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] >> >> >> TK> ____________________________________________________________ TK> You are subscribed to the PEDA discussion forum TK> To Post messages: TK> mailto:[email protected] TK> Unsubscribe and Other Options: TK> http://techservinc.com/mailman/listinfo/peda_techservinc.com TK> Browse or Search Old Archives (2001-2004): TK> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] TK> Browse or Search Current Archives (2004-Current): TK> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] ____________________________________________________________ You are subscribed to the PEDA discussion forum To Post messages: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe and Other Options: http://techservinc.com/mailman/listinfo/peda_techservinc.com Browse or Search Old Archives (2001-2004): http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] Browse or Search Current Archives (2004-Current): http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
