Thursday, January 19, 2006

Tooting My Own Horn....NOT!!!

I was just finishing up some software changes this afternoon to a product I'm working on. I did the schematic capture, PCB layout, component selection, software design and coding. You know, 20 years ago I was on a team of 8 engineers working on a smaller project. It's not me, it's the software that makes this possible. For $2000 I get a software development system with simulator that replaces 3 software guys. For $10,000 I get a cad system that does the schematic capture, BOM development, and PCB layout. Yes, I have to tweek a bit here and there, but once the schematic is done, and the physical size is set, the CAD program does the rest. Now the sad fact is, other than the concept, everything else can be done almost anywhere so long as the people have the same tools. You want the worst part? I email the files, and I get PCB's. I have no idea where they came from, nor do I care. There is another vendor who will even populate the boards for me. Where from? Who knows, and should I care? I guess the real bane of existance in the 21st century is that WHERE no longer matters, only WHAT. I think this is a good thing, do you?

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