kicad-developers team mailing list archive

[Lorenzo Marcantonio <l.marcantonio@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On Thu, Jun 21, 2012 at 09:27:44AM +0200, Edwin van den Oetelaar wrote:
> This dependency on someones closed source project, and closed source
> file formats is what is very bad in the end.

SPECCTRA is not exactly closed, is more an industrial standard... anyway
if that's the policy about kicad just take out the 'track' tool XD (the
autorouter in fact is so flacky it could be ripped out without great
losses...)

> PS. the example was just one of many that I encountered in the world
> of PCB and electronics.

I have worse stories... a board made with an old (orcad, protel don't
remember) had to be rebuilt from gerbers. Guess who had to do it :((

> PPS. I know that work must be compensated for, you can not live on
> water, sun and soil unless you are a small flower

Some OSS work is done as volunteering, some as paid work. For example
I'm being paid for small maintenance since we actively use kicad. And
it's monetary gain (ever seen lately the price list on EDA software?).

So that kicad is free (as in beer) *is* an advantage (expecially for
hobbysts and small firms like ours)

-- 
Lorenzo Marcantonio
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