3 ms·

There are a bunch of EEs in here complaining about the software they have to use. I took a few EE courses in school and the only thing I remember is having to u

There are a bunch of EEs in here complaining about the software they have to use. I took a few EE courses in school and the only thing I remember is having to use horrible software. Why hasn't someone made good software for EEs to use? And if the have, why do no EEs use it?

Cyph0n 10y ago
In my opinion, 1) Barrier to entry is way too high compared to other software niches. Good luck designing a cycle-accurate CPU simulator, or creating a reliable and robust analog circuit simulator that competes with offerings from EDA giants like Cadence and Synopsys. 2) The adoption process. I learn tool X in school, I start a company that uses tool X, I teach my hires tool X, etc. Once tool X becomes a central part of the design process, it's almost impossible to get rid of it.
madengr 10y ago
There is lots of good software for EE, it just costs $$.
- dwd 10y ago
  I worked on maintaining this software quite a few years back. It was quite innovative when first released. http://solutionselectricalsoftware.com/ http://solutionselectricalsoftware.com/
cushychicken 10y ago
Most of my professional experience has been with Orcad, and the folks who write that tend to write it for people who pay good money for it. Generally, those people tend to be in the semiconductor industry. As a result, there are a ton of features in the Cadence suite that are highly optimized for that industry. That doesn't make them easy for laymen to use. It just makes it easier for the people who are keeping Cadence in business. That's my read on it, anyway. Anyone who figures out a way to make EE CAD software better and easier to use stands to do well for themselves.
yessql 10y ago
Not a big enough market to make money making a better product. The tooling is super complicated and there are a limited number of potential users.
aceperry 10y ago
Many reasons for lots of legacy software that just gets updates and refreshes. Someone mentioned the small size of the market, which I think is the main reason. Originally, these programs were designed and written by EEs themselves, who weren't really experts at SW. Today's software has moved towards user friendliness and onto the web. The EE tools are mostly based on older windows platforms or Sun workstations that ran primitive x-windows environments which looked like windows 3.1. The best stuff is usually pretty expensive. Although Altium is making lower cost and free versions available with their CircuitMaker series.
vollmond 10y ago
That's ironic. Every time I've worked with an EE (as a software engineer), they've been among the best developers on the team.

Cyph0n 10y ago

In my opinion, 1) Barrier to entry is way too high compared to other software niches. Good luck designing a cycle-accurate CPU simulator, or creating a reliable and robust analog circuit simulator that competes with offerings from EDA giants like Cadence and Synopsys. 2) The adoption process. I learn tool X in school, I start a company that uses tool X, I teach my hires tool X, etc. Once tool X becomes a central part of the design process, it's almost impossible to get rid of it.

madengr 10y ago

There is lots of good software for EE, it just costs $$.

dwd 10y ago
I worked on maintaining this software quite a few years back. It was quite innovative when first released. http://solutionselectricalsoftware.com/ http://solutionselectricalsoftware.com/

cushychicken 10y ago

Most of my professional experience has been with Orcad, and the folks who write that tend to write it for people who pay good money for it. Generally, those people tend to be in the semiconductor industry. As a result, there are a ton of features in the Cadence suite that are highly optimized for that industry. That doesn't make them easy for laymen to use. It just makes it easier for the people who are keeping Cadence in business. That's my read on it, anyway. Anyone who figures out a way to make EE CAD software better and easier to use stands to do well for themselves.

yessql 10y ago

Not a big enough market to make money making a better product. The tooling is super complicated and there are a limited number of potential users.

aceperry 10y ago

Many reasons for lots of legacy software that just gets updates and refreshes. Someone mentioned the small size of the market, which I think is the main reason. Originally, these programs were designed and written by EEs themselves, who weren't really experts at SW. Today's software has moved towards user friendliness and onto the web. The EE tools are mostly based on older windows platforms or Sun workstations that ran primitive x-windows environments which looked like windows 3.1. The best stuff is usually pretty expensive. Although Altium is making lower cost and free versions available with their CircuitMaker series.

vollmond 10y ago

That's ironic. Every time I've worked with an EE (as a software engineer), they've been among the best developers on the team.