Judy Warner

For months, I've been tracking online discussions that have been buzzing with frustration from PCB designers who grew up on Altium. Subscription hikes, the loss of perpetual licenses, and mandatory cloud workflows have left many feeling boxed in. As one designer bluntly put it: “The mid-tier is dead. KiCad for basics, but nothing pro without breaking the bank.” This isn’t just a bunch of online trolls; it’s a real problem affecting nearly a third of PCB designers who need an affordable,...

I recently heard from one of our EEcosystem community members, Rok Mih  from Slovakia, who said he loved our post on free engineering tools and suggested we highlight another resource worth sharing. That tool is Qucs (Quite Universal Circuit Simulator)  — a free, open-source circuit simulator that offers surprising power and flexibility.🔗 https://qucs.sourceforge.net/ Qucs lets you capture schematics, simulate them, and visualize results in plots and diagrams. It supports DC, AC,...

Back on August 5th, I joined engineers, product teams, and ecosystem partners at Microchip MASTER 2025  in Scottsdale, AZ. During the event, I had deep conversations with Matt Bromley (VP, Siemens EDA)  and Rodger Richey (VP, Microchip Technology)  about their new collaboration and how it’s transforming the engineering workflow. I've been thinking about it ever since, as I've continued to work with and communicate with the Siemens team. This week, I will be sharing what I've learned and...