I can't resist this one...  design tools and benchmarks.  It
amazes me how we designers react to our tools.  Our CAD system
is like our religion, whether we use Cadence or Intergraph is
like being Catholic or Protestant in Ireland...

Well here is my 2 cents, for what it is worth.  Not enough attention
is paid to interactive tools and output.  When running a benchmark,
which I have on several occasions, I look very carefully at the
operations the designer will be doing day in and day out, and when
the design is done, I want to see the output files, and how easily
they were created.  I also want to see how well the system checks
itself, so the output data will be correct.

CAD vendors though do not put their focus on these things.  Automated
tools, such as autorouting and (believe it or not) autoplacement sell
systems.  Why?  Because these vendors know who writes the check in the
end.  It isn't the pcb designer, but a manager of some sort, who may
only posess a dim knowledge of the design process.

Ken Barrett
Cisco Systems ELB

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