The clown is here to stay - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: ajawamnet
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2021, 07:56:50 pm
content: In case Altium deletes this post on their forum:We're screwed -https://www.yahoo.com/now/edited-transcript-alu-ax-earnings-223000483.htmlSome tidbits - you don't even have to read very far:" During this call, Aram and Martin will elaborate on Altium's performance for the half year fiscal 2021. We will share details of how we have pivoted to the cloud, bifurcated our sales into digital sales and high-end professional sales and divested our TASKING business to concentrate our focus on accelerating the adoption of our cloud platform, Altium 365, for dominance and industry transformation. "Dominance... need the cat-o-nine tails and some leather..." Thanks, Kim, and good morning, everyone. After 8 consecutive years of double-digit revenue growth, Altium experienced a 4% decline in first half revenue. This performance for the first half reflects the combination of the effect of extreme COVID conditions and Altium's Netflix moment, which is a hard pivot to the cloud. "Think there's a reason for this? You can't possibly not read your own forum and ask that..." You can think of FY '21 first half as Altium's pit stop. After 8 years of racing around the track and delivering record performances, we took advantage of COVID and did a major overhaul of our business in switching to the cloud. This pre-vaccine period presented a perfect opportunity to fast-track our transition from the pursuit of market leadership to the pursuit of dominance and industry transformation. During the first half, on the back of a successful launch of Altium 365, we leaned strongly into our journey of dominance and transformation and took advantage of the conditions to undertake a major restructuring and pivoted hard to the cloud. This has included the separation of our CAD software business from our cloud business and the reorganization of our sales model into high touch and high volume. We made a strategic decision to divest our TASKING business to allow us to singularly focus on the expansion of the Altium 365 platform and to drive its adoption for transformation. It is against the background and what has been achieved that I consider Altium's performance in the first half to be potentially a game-changing performance in the opening year of our next 5 years in pursuit of dominance and transformation. "He's gotta be kidding." In addition to our Netflix organizational changes, we have subsequently accelerated further towards industry transformation by forming a new business unit, which we are calling Nexar. Nexar's mission is to build an ecosystem for our new cloud platform, Altium 365. With the divestment of TASKING, Altium will have 2 unique and complementary business units. These are Boards and Systems, which provides PCB design software solutions and indirectly monetizes Altium 365 through enhancement of the value of subscriptions associated with design tools; and Nexar, which provides professionals and industry partners with access to the vast ecosystem of electronic design and manufacturing users and customers and, in the process, directly monetizes Altium 365. Nexar includes Octopart and smart manufacturing. "Hmmm... Nexar? Netflix moment? Like that's like me comparing myself to some porn star. Not happening..There's more if you read the entire transcript.Some highlights of questions:" Lucy Huang, BofA Securities, Research Division - Analyst  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- So I just have 3. So firstly, in relation to the margin guidance from FY '21 to '25, just noticed that the range has been lowered slightly. So just wondering what you're now accounting for in terms of increased costs over the next few years. And then just secondly, it looks like the lapse rates in the subscription business has ticked up a bit. Are you able to talk through what the dynamics that are happening with the lapse rates in the business? "Uh lady - read the forum...The following question:"And secondly and lastly, I guess Cadence would probably be the main kind of other competitor data point we can look to in the market. It's looking like they are outperforming in the December half, including in their -- the division with holds their PCB. I understand there's a fair -- few moving parts in that business. But I guess what can you tell us about what you're seeing from the competitor set? And do you have any concerns that there's a potential slippage of market share or no on that front? "In a word - KiCAD." That's helpful. Just a clarification on that. So when you're seeing high discounting from competitors like Cadence, does that impact your business? Are you able to see that up in your results? And to what degree if at all do you need to match or, I guess, have your own pricing kind of reflect what you're seeing amongst the competition? "Uhhh...." Just a couple from me. So the first one is just on Slide 7. So I just want to understand the way of structuring the chart. With the dip in monthly active users and really slight dip in monthly active accounts that goes through the first 2 weeks of January, is that just because people aren't logging in? Or is that actually people stopping becoming users, and then you've got a big acceleration out the other side of that? "What do you think?

author: AlfBaz
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 19, 2021, 09:03:51 pm
content: If the past is any indicator, wait until the stock price plummets and when important board members are sacked, buy big

author: fcb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2021, 04:42:51 pm
content: Thanks ajawamnet. Some interesting stuff there.So they are confident of getting to $500m and 100,000 Altium 365 subscribers in 2025... So 500,000,000/100,000=$5000 per subscriber per year average.Roll on KiCAD 6 and 7. In-fact rather than renewing my Altium annual license, I'd consider donating the £££ to KiCAD.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2021, 08:09:58 pm
content: "Netflix organizational changes"Don't waste your energy reading this trash, its purely for investors.

author: YurkshireLad
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 20, 2021, 08:21:44 pm
content: Flywheel? Flight path? Fine examples of MBA buzzwords. What a joke.

author: aandrew
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 21, 2021, 04:04:51 pm
content: Yeah I'm sticking to AD17 until it's no longer an option, at which point hopefully KiCad's caught up. It (KiCad) has seen some PHENOMENAL progress in the last year or two, and Altium best be paying attention. A lot of the crap they've pushed out in AD18+ has done nothing to keep core users like me from looking elsewhere. I see this playing out exactly how Eagle played out in the 4.x days. They ignored years-long issues, released a new version with new colours and held their hand out for a full-version upgrade price. That's when I jumped to AD, and I see another jump to KiCad on the horizon if things don't start changing in the right direction.

author: trevwhite
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2021, 10:03:25 am
content: I feel Altium are pushing the 365 thing? so that you end up locked in to their cloud and then forced to renew each year. You end up, whilst owning the software needing to keep paying to use it 'properly'. It might end up that less features are added but you have to keep paying for the 365 cloud service.I would be happy to subscribe to a monthly fee rather than waiting for the one off yearly amounts. Even if it was a 12 month commitment with monthly payments, it would be a lot easier to deal with.Trev

author: ajawamnet
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2021, 01:02:21 pm
content: [ Specified attachment is not available ]Quote from: YurkshireLad on April 20, 2021, 08:21:44 pmFunny you should point that out - A user on their forum posted this - looks like a capstan from an old cassette deck. Talk about how you can create marketturds...

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2021, 01:08:50 pm
content: Oh, I would love to have a Dedicated Customer Success Manager. Also Regular check ins. That is totally worth paying extra for.So what are they taking away this time? Isn't it enough that we pay the subscription to have the bugs in the software fixed?

author: 2N3055
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 22, 2021, 04:51:52 pm
content: Quote from: tszaboo on April 22, 2021, 01:08:50 pmCorrection. You are paying subscription to replace old bugs with new ones. As we all know new is always better than old..

author: alexwhittemore
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 23, 2021, 10:17:20 pm
content: Holy sweet jesus, get over yourself. Is Altium perfect? No. Is it worth Ten Goddamn Thousand Dollars? Well, we all do our designs in it, so I guess until someone else delivers all the features without any bugs, by definition yes?Am I excited about ponying up $2k to renew my subscription for another year? No, but the support is necessary in practice and A365 is good, my customers like it, and it's going to push me over the edge to fork over.Quote from: trevwhite on April 22, 2021, 10:03:25 am"Forced" is a strong word. They're absolutely trying to build vendor lock-in, but also it's very clearly soft. Everything you do in 365 is easily exportable, no lock-in at all. If you want to ditch 365:1) open up the Explorer panel, select all your components, "Add to cart" and download everything as IntLibs.2) All your designs are git repositories. Open them up in Altium and boom you've got the whole design history locally on your machine. I'm not sure whether there's a more-automated way to batch download them with full design history - I couldn't quickly find it. If this bothers you, a strategy I'd suggest but haven't started myself is to add a third-party remote to your project when you start it (i.e. git remote add github <github repo URL>). Push occasionally to this other remote to keep everything in sync. That'll even set you up nicely for3) get *some of* the A365 feature set with CadLab.io, which will handle visual diffs and commenting in a web interface similar to 365.Quote from: trevwhite on April 22, 2021, 10:03:25 amLiterally an option; that's exactly how I pay now, and how I'll renew.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2021, 10:33:57 am
content: Quote from: alexwhittemore on April 23, 2021, 10:17:20 pmI believe there is a button to create an intlib for the entire project. Its under the project menu as far as I remember.The bigger issue is with the changes to our workflow.I have a project that should be finished in a very short amount of time. So instead of doing my usual workflow, when I create the library myself, creating the footprints or using the tested ones, I am just grabbing all the components from the Explorer. And I really think this will bite back on the long term, but I actually need to deliver. Long term, be damned, if the idiot manager wants everything yesterday, and puts your job on the line.So yes, the project seemingly goes faster, and the first prototype will come out faster. I dont think it will finish faster, probably we end up with more prototype cycles. But you know, at least it looks like we are working because there is a pile of scrapped boards on our desk. Instead of delivering a board that is almost finished.And if this works, when a project is rushed, it should work always...

author: jmw
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2021, 05:16:28 pm
content: I wonder if they've internalized the precipice they are approaching. Altium will go the way of Borland. Nobody (outside of miserable non-competitive niche industries) is paying for compilers today, and in 5-10 years nobody is going to be spending thousands for an ordinary PCB EDA package. KiCAD is on the path to becoming the GCC of the hardware world.

author: Bud
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 24, 2021, 05:52:53 pm
content: I am not so sure. All it takes is some Chinese company making an offer they could not resist.

author: ajawamnet
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: April 25, 2021, 07:13:49 pm
content: Support? The majority of the support I get is from the forum. Back in the day Abd ul ran a list when we were using Protel Client 3.2 and Advanced PCB 2.8.It came in handy when Protel 98 then 99SE came about.https://www.angelfire.com/electronic/protelarchive/maillist.htmlA lot of the guys like Dennis that you see on that list are like me - we've done thousands of PCB's with Protel/Altium.But back then I had the option to actually talk to guys like Phil Loughhead and Derek Jackson. You don't have that anymore. A lot of users on the official Altium forum have stated how bad the On Line chat is. I used it once - I'm still waiting for an answer a year later. And the bug is still there.Their " there's a ticket for that..." response is disheartening. Imagine you telling your clients that when they find an issue with your hardware. I know my clients ain't so patient. And if they'd give a bit of visibility into that ticket system it'd be nice.In addition, a lot of the users of AD have recently posted about how THEIR clients won't allow them to use the cloud.This is gonna be an issue for their 365 adoption - as shown in the Stock Holder Quarterly numbers "capstan-looking" drawing. Look how well what Autodesk did with Eagle and recently with Fusion went over with the majority of the user base.As I've mentioned before, Altium's market is the lower end of the major corps like Intel, Google, Apple, etc... Some of those companies use Cadence for IC design and so they get Orcad/Allego for free - this was told to me by an Altium Regional Manager that was well connected in the EDA world since he used to work at PADS in the late 1980's (I did some work for him)"I can't compete with free..." is what he told me. He now works at Cadence.As to bugs - geez I've been an Altium user for almost three decades. I've never seen it quite this bad. In fact, they just did a webinar that alluded to what I've been saying - They've lost control of the source code. They just pushing bugs around and add more with every feature that they release. Features that were present or worked for decades are now not there anymore or totally broken. The one I just posted about here is the DRC doing some weird stuff. That's not cool.Kinda sad to see what it's turned into. The latest version - Ad21.3.1 seems a bit more stable (I'll probably eat those words) but they've added new bugs. One is the in-place editing being a bit flaky.As to Cadence, I work with a local base here in D.C. and they were going to buy Altium - 25 seats of it - about 2015. I then get a call about the existing government Altium seats trying to connect to a CN IP address. An immediate STOP BUY went out.I then suggested Orcad... they had no choice. Well, I'm kinda glad I did (even tho I own it too and hate it) since they recently told me that the support from EMA-EDA was great and to that end they just spent about a quarter million to get more bells and whistles that Altium just does not have - things like thermal analysis and a real post layout simulator.I really like Altium's interface. But after what I saw concerning the status of their development makes me just really feel for those guys - especially since KiCAD is making great strides in development and user buy-in. Having CERN and some other well-financed organizations as backers is an amazing boost to their development capability. Many of the major disty's are now offering KiCAD library parts. I'm seeing more and more employment billets for KiCAD which should be concerning to Altium. I recall when you'd rarely see Protel/Altium at all in job descriptions. You see more nowadays, but if they keep pissing off the users - and worse causing them to turn "keychains" (ie PCB's that don't work) that may change.I hope not since I really like Altium - but not having to worry every time I go to use it to see what else they broke that used to work.I hope Altium is aware of this.

author: fcb
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 09:13:38 am
content: I've found myself getting quite stressed by Altium's bugs and updates. I've given up trying to file bug reports, like ajawamnet says "there's a ticket for that...".The "weird zooming on schematic component" bug recently was probably their finest hour - they can't possibly be testing the releases?? Geniunely feels like they've taken the "take out the old bugs and replace with new bugs" as company policy and not a joke.

author: Bassman59
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 03:53:18 pm
content: Quote from: fcb on April 26, 2021, 09:13:38 amI think they subscribe to the "move fast, break things" concept of software development.

author: alexwhittemore
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 05:41:09 pm
content: Quote from: tszaboo on April 24, 2021, 10:33:57 amOh certainly you can do that - but that's assuming your entire corpus of valuable work in A365 is limited to one project. Presumably you've made a lot of components in your workspace and want to quickly capture all of those.Quote from: tszaboo on April 24, 2021, 10:33:57 amTo be clear, you don't HAVE to change your workflow a lick. You can take or leave any given aspect of A365. You can use hand-managed IntLibs while still hosting your projects in the cloud. You can use managed components if you like the lifecycle stuff and never use project versioning at all.Jus to speak specifically to your example - I think you're confusing the models occasionally available via "manufacturer part search" with "Altium 365 managed components" - those share a lot of concepts, but they're not the same. 365 managed components are basically "build your components in this new unified interface, and the data is stored in your "A365 Workspace" (previously a "Vault"). "Manufacturer part search" components are backed by the same vault tech, but you don't really have to consider that at all. It's basically, "if octopart has models available to download for this part, Altium supports native direct placement."So basically, if you place components from manufacturer part search, you can kind of assume the source of truth for them becomes your design itself, and you could i.e. export an IntLib from your project if you liked. I agree I don't love this, and it's worth double-checking MPS-sourced models in the first place (sometimes they don't conform to your preferences or design MO, you want to add details, etc.) My personal strategy here is to right-click the MPS component and "Acquire" - that basically just pulls the component into your own workspace, and then any edits you make are to "your version." I usually add a "Designer Name" = me parameter, so I can quickly find in Explorer all the components I've specifically touched.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 09:08:45 pm
content: Quote from: ajawamnet on April 25, 2021, 07:13:49 pmNo, the support is actually good, when you ask a question of an existing feature. Used them myself several times. 1-2 mail back and forth, an expert sent specifically for me recorded video on how to do something. I dont mind paying for that (well, more like letting my boss pay for it).Quote from: alexwhittemore on April 26, 2021, 05:41:09 pmMaybe. I just refuse to give out my work to Altium, cause they dont have an NDA with us. And I dont belive they would honor it, even if they would sign it. You know, just "big data" and "usage patterns". So storage happens locally, and to a server that we control.

author: alexwhittemore
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: April 26, 2021, 10:36:50 pm
content: Quote from: tszaboo on April 26, 2021, 09:08:45 pmIs that to imply you also don't have off-site backup, and maintain your own email server, and insist your contacts do the same? If it makes you feel better, support staff don't have access to any data in 365, as I've run into having to manually share with them to get help.Not that it's insane or anything to keep your design data offline, but the "if they'd sign an NDA" concept is a bit laughable.But to provide some info that might be actually-useful to you - in your scenario, I think I'd probably just go with "place from manufacturer part search and don't worry about it." But obviously that leaves a bit to be desired in the case you have to modify the parts - you don't "own" the library source-of-truth.In my experience, the practical way to manage the library in this case is to find your part w/model in MPS, find the page for that part on Octopart, and download the symbol/footprint in IntLib format. Open the IntLib, copy the footprint and symbol to your personal library strategy of choice, and go from there.A fast compromise might be, place from MPS, and only do that manual workaround if you need to make modifications and want to hold on to them.

author: RiZsho
author_rank: Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2021, 08:01:12 am
content: QuoteI've tried CadLab.io. Not that great if you ask me. Reasons:- Version AD17 and before files are not shown (schdocs and pcbdocs). They said they don't support it. We absolutely need that for legacy reasons + our contractors don't all have latest and greatest versions- A lot of differences between what you see in CadLab and Altium were observed. As I understood, they have a library to do these things which comes from Altium. No reason why fonts shouldn't be the same size when rendered etc.Have to say, I agree with Wayne on this matter. Too much focus on the cloud, too little focus on the core stuff, stability, speed and workflow improvements. Anyone who says otherwise, obviously didn't get burned enough over the years by Altium shenanigans.

author: tszaboo
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: May 01, 2021, 09:43:29 am
content: Quote from: alexwhittemore on April 26, 2021, 10:36:50 pmOh, we have a SNV server with a duplicate.Library parts can be downloaded, just right click on the searched part in Altium.