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Whenever a free CAD software exists, AutoCAD or similar buys them out. I'm not sure the solution.
by helpPeople 7y ago
Whenever a free CAD software exists, AutoCAD or similar buys them out.
I'm not sure the solution.
- rtkwe 7y agoThat's only really possible when there's a company behind it. It's much harder to buy out a whole OSS project, the only real option is to buy out the main contributors.
- delfinom 7y agoEspecially like in the case of KiCad, some of the main contributors are CERN :D
- artemonster 7y agoThis is exactly the situation in the realm of ASICs. Patent situation is a fucking minefield, so whenever a startup arises, the oligopoly smashes it to pieces and then buys out. This was actually the same for compiler technology (remember shitheads Borland?) and it was only pushed back by a large community and social traction. Unfortunately the realm of engineers (electrical, mechanical) is MUCH smaller to gain such traction to change things. So the situation is quite hopeless.
- snaky 7y agoIf there's some hope, it's China. Hundreds and hundreds of small shops don't care about patents and build their RISC-V based chips.
- DanTheManPR 7y agoIncidentally, one of the no-cost commercial tools just got bought out by one of the big players: https://www.ptc.com/en/about/onshape https://www.ptc.com/en/about/onshape