4 ms·

Individuals really aren't Altium's target market, though, are they? "I can't afford this" isn't a license (no pun intended) for copyright violation -- especiall

Individuals really aren't Altium's target market, though, are they? "I can't afford this" isn't a license (no pun intended) for copyright violation -- especially when there are cheaper or free alternatives. There's free PCB design software out there, including Altium's own CircuitMaker. As an aside, I've always found software at this price level to be a bit of a paradox when it comes to piracy -- Altium, Autodesk Maya ($1620/year, currently), and similarly priced vertical market solutions are big fish in tiny ponds. If you're in a business that needs Altium or Maya, you're almost certainly going to pay for it, and conversely, folks who pirate software like that almost certainly don't need it. If I ran such a software company I don't think I'd bother with DRM; your true copy protection dongle is (or at least better be!) the level of support you're giving licensed customers.

jeffreyrogers 6y ago
There are cheaper alternatives now that are decent, but the situation was different a few years ago.
selfhoster11 6y ago
> Individuals really aren't Altium's target market, though, are they? So what? Does this mean I shouldn't be able to play with the big boys' toys? I certainly am not skilled enough to get to the break-even point where I earn back enough money to cover the cost of the program.
- chipotle_coyote 6y ago
  Well, I suppose it depends on whether you're comfortable with "I can't afford this, therefore it's okay for me to copy it." The rest of my original comment -- about how the kinds of people who pirate Altium and other stratospherically expensive, highly niche software are highly unlikely to actually represent lost sales -- might apply in your case. For me personally, if I was actually going to be using niche software like that to make things I was going to sell, I would not be comfortable doing it with pirated commercial software for both ethical and legal reasons, and I would look for adequate cheaper alternatives, only moving up to Altium when and if my sales justified it. This is why I don't actually own or use any Adobe software anymore -- it's less niche, to be sure, but I wouldn't use Photoshop and InDesign nearly enough to justify the price of Adobe Creative Suite. And, again, personally, I don't feel like "but I'd use them occasionally and I wanna use the big boys' toys" justifies me pirating Adobe's software rather than finding much cheaper alternatives that I still like.

jeffreyrogers 6y ago

There are cheaper alternatives now that are decent, but the situation was different a few years ago.

selfhoster11 6y ago

> Individuals really aren't Altium's target market, though, are they? So what? Does this mean I shouldn't be able to play with the big boys' toys? I certainly am not skilled enough to get to the break-even point where I earn back enough money to cover the cost of the program.

chipotle_coyote 6y ago
Well, I suppose it depends on whether you're comfortable with "I can't afford this, therefore it's okay for me to copy it." The rest of my original comment -- about how the kinds of people who pirate Altium and other stratospherically expensive, highly niche software are highly unlikely to actually represent lost sales -- might apply in your case. For me personally, if I was actually going to be using niche software like that to make things I was going to sell, I would not be comfortable doing it with pirated commercial software for both ethical and legal reasons, and I would look for adequate cheaper alternatives, only moving up to Altium when and if my sales justified it. This is why I don't actually own or use any Adobe software anymore -- it's less niche, to be sure, but I wouldn't use Photoshop and InDesign nearly enough to justify the price of Adobe Creative Suite. And, again, personally, I don't feel like "but I'd use them occasionally and I wanna use the big boys' toys" justifies me pirating Adobe's software rather than finding much cheaper alternatives that I still like.