<OPINION>
You get what you pay for when it comes to PCB CAD packages.  By this I
don't mean that you can't do the same things with less expensive tools,
but usually you can do the same thing with less hassle with the upper
tier tools.  And it costs you, both in money and learning curve :)

I look at it this way:  Mentor and Cadence are the 500 pound gorillas in
the mix right now.  


Now, which scenario do you think it less or more likely:

  1) They will be bought out by another vendor and phased out.

or

  2) They will slowly buy out the smaller guys and phase THEM out?



Money talks, and who knows who will be left standing in the end.  This
is a trend that has been a fact of life in this industry for the year or
two I have been in it.  Anyone remember Gerber, or ComputerVision, or
Calay, or Unigraphics, or Valid???  These are all tools I have used that
are history now (although Cadence phased THEIR tool out after they
bought Valid.)  If I had to guess there will be a slew of Eagle type
tools out there, fighting each other for the low-tier market share and
ducking from Mentor and Cadence.  Middle-tier vendors will be
increasingly rare.

Or not, my crystal ball got cracked some time ago :)

</OPINION>
YMMV

-- 
George Patrick
Tektronix, Inc.
Central Engineering, EDS Applications Support
P.O. Box 500, M/S 39-512
Beaverton, OR 97077-0001
* 503-627-5272 (voice)     * 503-627-5587 (fax)
http://www.tektronix.com    http://www.pcb-designer.com
 
"Off-Grid and Proud of it!"

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