I have also been on the "intelligent PCB data exchange format" bandwagon for the past 25 years. I partially adopted Gencad in the early 1990's as it was an open format that appeared to be gaining some momentum. Shortly after it became Gencam the format came to a screeching halt with little if any support from any tool vendors.

In the late 90's I adopted ODB++ while working within a design environment that produced the output format and also dealt with a quick turn North American fabricator that preferred ODB++ data. When any of the designs progressed to production the output format reverted to extended gerber with netlist as none of the production fabricators supported ODB++.

I also pushed for ODB++ incorporation to feed internal processes (manufacturing test, insertion, etc.) at a major multinational that was changing design platforms prior to Valor's acquisition by Mentor. Again, the format worked well in-house where I had control on both source and target applications and their translators. Yet again, none of our production fabricators supported ODB++.

In my opinion the initial success of Valor and ODB++ killed any traction Gencad/Gencam had achieved. And now Valor's purchase by Mentor appears to have sealed ODB++'s fate.

I may be an old dog, but I've always loved new tricks. Having said that, it's going take a whole lot of proof before I recommend or commit time to implementation of another "intelligent PCB data exchange format". I would suggest that it will be even harder to convince others who don't place the same priority on tweaking parts of a process that are producing consistant results (ie fabricators).

Julian needs to step back and revaluate the current scenario. I see slandering designers as nothing more than a shell game, hoping to drum up more demand for his proprietary and now commercially controlled standard.

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