> KiCAD must be moving up in the world if people are using it for 6-layer boards.
With every release of KiCad, the difference between KiCad and Altium gets smaller and smaller.
> With a pro tool, you're paying for a small army of people doing data entry on part info.
That has never been my experience using any PCB tool (even the truly big boys like Expedition or Allegro). Any libraries managed by an entity external to the people designing PCB boards have always been a disaster. If you haven't personally put something on a board, it is, practically by definition, broken.
Anyone using a "pro" tool (Expedition or Allegro) has their own army of people managing their library.
I could rant yet again about how Altium screwed themselves by encrypting libraries so that you had to subscribe to them, but I'm tired of that rant.
In Altium's stead, KiCad has been eating up the bottom end more and more. There are still some missing features (copper on inner footprint layers, flex board stackups), but they get fewer and fewer with each release. And Autodesk's moves with Eagle have hastened even more people onto KiCad.
With every release of KiCad, the difference between KiCad and Altium gets smaller and smaller.
> With a pro tool, you're paying for a small army of people doing data entry on part info.
That has never been my experience using any PCB tool (even the truly big boys like Expedition or Allegro). Any libraries managed by an entity external to the people designing PCB boards have always been a disaster. If you haven't personally put something on a board, it is, practically by definition, broken.
Anyone using a "pro" tool (Expedition or Allegro) has their own army of people managing their library.
I could rant yet again about how Altium screwed themselves by encrypting libraries so that you had to subscribe to them, but I'm tired of that rant.
In Altium's stead, KiCad has been eating up the bottom end more and more. There are still some missing features (copper on inner footprint layers, flex board stackups), but they get fewer and fewer with each release. And Autodesk's moves with Eagle have hastened even more people onto KiCad.