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Re: gEDA-user: FUNDING

Hi Everyone,

 I realise that I am joining a very established thread, but I'd like
to put forward 2 cents worth.  Please don't be offended if what I'm
saying isn't the same as your opinion.  I have used gEDA as the main
(but not only) tool for EDA in my company for two and a half years, I
don't fully understand it - but I can use it for everything that I
need to do (principally draw schematics & layout PCBs).

 I know companies that would like to use gEDA, but must support a
back catalogue of designs that were created using other tools.  That is
to say that they have no choice but to pay for their EDA tools.

 These people do pay alot for thier tools, but they have no chioce!
As a gEDA user,  I am not tied to it, and can use whatever software suits me.

 In an open software model, the companies choose to use a given tool
because it is the most cost effective in an open marketplace.  Whilst
anyone who uses the tool is grateful to those who have created it,
they don't owe anything to the developers who have published their
source.  Guilt complexes won't work on any shrewd business person;
and I doubt those tactics are what we want to be doing if we are to
encourage the adoption of gEDA as a standard tool in the industry
anyway.  This sounds very negative, so I'll try to describe how I think
funding might be found.

 Because of the GERBER standard, FOSS stands a chance of creating
competitive tools for EDA,  this is much more difficult in areas where
open standards don't exist.

 I don't know if this has come up before in this thread, but my
opinion is that we may be able to shake down the relevant industry
groups & government bodies.  gEDA is special because it opens the
marketplace to SMEs.  It seems to me that empowering individuals and
companies is the purpose of groups like the IEEE (& the IET in the
UK).  Maybe they could spare some money for the development of a tool
that could bring a new standard to the development of electronic
products?  Right now there is a big push to help small business hit by
the recession - perhaps governments might have the right buttons
pushed too?  FOSS is about community and openness and opportunities
for all... right?

 Another option, that may not be acceptable to all, is that in the UK
RS & Farnell both recently acquired small PCB development
companies(DesignSpark & eagle respectively).  The intention being the
companies adopt the free tool which integrates easily with their
catalogue and then buy more from them.  This would be great if they
hadn't bought such poor tools (IMHO)!  Perhaps the same or other
catalogue companies could be convinced that they should pay for a
little development to put in an automatic search or part
number->attribute feature (and thereby support development of some
other features too).  I know that few developers would volunteer to
develop the parts library for the entire Digikey catalogue,  but if
the money was right wouldn't it be a worthwhile venture!?  This API
could then be open to other companies to integrate catalouges too
(so gEDA would remain unaffiliated).

 Finally,  If a company spent 4k on a developer, they could contract
them directly.  As I understand the gpl (and I'm not a legal
professional!), they wouldn't have to publish the developers work.
They could legally branch from the main tree and continue to use their
competitive advantage (in-house) since they'd spent the money to have
feature X in their tool chain.  It would be silly to give this to their
competitors too, so the expectations for donations must be *much*
lower so that companies and individuals get the features they want at
a bargain price!

 A while ago a couple of us tried to organise gEDA training,  and despite
enthusiasm from the community, I had real trouble persuading those who
didn't use it (which was kind of the point) - I had some success with a 30
page ebook proposal to the IEEE (which anyone would be very welcome to
take over as I have financial constraints that mean that it has become dormant).

Regards


Andrew



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    Andrew Whyte MEng CEng
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    @ - aw@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
    â - www.paramita-electronics.com
    â - +44 (0) 79 81 01 61 85
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