The concerns of EDA software vendors about linux
--
Rainer Dorsch
Abt. Rechnerarchitektur e-mail:rainer.dorsch@informatik.uni-stuttgart.de
Uni Stuttgart Tel.: 0711-7816-215
------- Start of forwarded message -------
From: Dan Kegel <dank@alumni.caltech.edu>
Newsgroups: comp.os.linux.advocacy,comp.lsi.cad,comp.cad.synthesis
Subject: Talking with CAD tool vendors about Linux
Date: Tue, 07 Jul 1998 09:26:31 -0700
Organization: Network Intensive
Message-ID: <35A24C37.A5559570@alumni.caltech.edu>
Having read http://www.isdmag.com/Editorial/1998/CoverStory9807.html ,
I decided to take direct action, and started a conversation with
an EDA company whose tools I have used.
Their main concerns were:
1. The opportunities they'd give up by devoting 20% of their product
support budget to a new OS.
2. Whether there was a good dongle / network licensing vendor for Linux.
3. Hardware support; it might be a real headache trying to figure out
if a customer's graphics problem is the EDA tool, or his X drivers.
4. What version of Linux to support.
I think I addressed their concerns successfully, and nudged them
a little closer to supporting Linux.
I encourage other Linux-loving engineers to do the same with their
favorite EDA vendors.
Has anyone found out what led Exemplar to drop Linux support?
- Dan
p.s. Here's a transcript of the conversation. Names have been changed
to protect the innocent.
<pre>
From: dkegel@ni.net (Dan Kegel)
To: mengineer@some_eda.com (The Marketing Engineer)
Subject: Some EDA Company Website Feedback Form
Below is the result of your feedback form.
Message Type: Complaint
Topic: Products
Comments: Why no Linux support?
<hr>
From: mengineer@some_eda.com (The Marketing Engineer)
To: dkegel@ni.net (Dan Kegel)
Dan, we don't have current plans to support Linux. We are tracking the
customer demand for this, however, and may reconsider in the future.
Thanks for your inquiry.
Regards,
The Marketing Engineer
Technical Marketing Engineer, Some EDA Company, mengineer@some_eda.com
<hr>
From: dkegel@ni.net (Dan Kegel)
To: mengineer@some_eda.com (The Marketing Engineer)
Subject: RE: Some EDA Company Website Feedback Form
The Marketing Engineer,
I'd be interested in hearing what vendors like Some EDA Company
feel are the problems with offering Linux support for their tools.
Have you seen any good presentation of the problems,
or can you describe a few of them yourself?
If there are any missing pieces of infrastructure - e.g.
good dongle / copy protection methods for Linux, good
distribution methods, or good ways to minimize the
cost of porting the software to the new platform -
I'd like to find out so I can help nudge the Linux
world closer to a solution for you.
Sincerely,
Dan Kegel
<hr>
From: mengineer@some_eda.com (The Marketing Engineer)
To: dkegel@ni.net (Dan Kegel)
Hi Dan,
One of the key issues is the one you mentioned first. We have to have a
secure mechanism for licensing. Dongle support is one way. Support for a
mixed network (Unix & PC) will help this because PC Linux users could point
their license server to a unix license server. PC only networks would
require good dongle support. Preferably for the Globetrotter dongles that
we're currently using.
Another problem is which flavor of Linux to support (Red Hat, Slackware,
etc.)? Is Red Hat becoming the dominant player?
Hardware support I understand is also very difficult. The Price point
of
our product would not support us having to answer video driver questions,
Linux OS questions, etc.
Probably the biggest hurdle is just in building the potential business on
Linux to justify the opportunity cost (not just the raw cost) of adding a
20% increase to our product/platform support/maintenance cost base.
We have been getting many requests very recently for Linux support and
would love to expand our customer base if it made business sense.
Thankyou for your inquiry.
Best Regards,
The Marketing Engineer
Technical Marketing Engineer, Some EDA Company, mengineer@some_eda.com
<hr>
From: dkegel@ni.net (Dan Kegel)
To: mengineer@some_eda.com (The Marketing Engineer)
Subject: Re: Linux Hurdles
Thanks for your thoughtful reply.
I imagine you would prefer to continue using the
licensing server vendor you're currently using. Which one
is that? (I haven't used licensing software in years, so
anything I remember is now stale.)
Is dongle support related to network licensing support -
i.e. does the license server use a separate dongle system?
As to which flavor of Linux to support - Red Hat is the
clear choice in the US and probably India. All the other flavors
of Linux will support Red Hat packages, so if you develop for
Red Hat, other vendors will tend to support it automatically, or
fix the problems.
As for hardware support- people who are running Linux
are usually careful to buy hardware that Linux supports well.
I suspect that you could certify two or three configurations,
call others unsupported, and leave it at that. VA Research,
who sell a lot of Linux systems, might be able to provide
some guidance here; you could just certify their most
popular configurations, for example.
Looking forward to your reply re licensing servers and dongles.
Thanks,
Dan
<hr>
From: mengineer@some_eda.com (The Marketing Engineer)
To: dkegel@ni.net (Dan Kegel)
Hi Dan,
The licensing SW we use is FLEXLM by Globetrotter.
http://www.globetrotter.com
The dongle is a surrogate for the Unix Hostid. Preferably the
user would tie their license server to a Unix box's hostid.
Otherwise, one dongle would be needed on a PC to serve
the licenses.
Regards,
The Marketing Engineer
<hr>
From: dkegel@ni.net (Dan Kegel)
To: mengineer@some_eda.com (The Marketing Engineer)
Subject: RE: Linux Hurdles
Hi,
looks like FLEXLM already supports Linux in two ways:
natively, and via Java. See http://www.globetrotter.com/lmdet.htm
In fact, they support Linux both on Intel and on DEC Alpha.
Since this is your existing vendor, looks like it'll be able
to use existing license servers just fine.
Well, that's one hurdle out of the way, anyway!
I suspect the hardware support hurdle can be solved
by fiat: let the users fend for themselves. That's
one of the things Linux users are best at.
This leaves the main hurdle:
>Probably the biggest hurdle is just in building the potential business on
>Linux to justify the opportunity cost (not just the raw cost) of adding a
>20% increase to our product/platform support/maintenance cost base.
IMHO the low cost and high quality of Linux will open doors for you.
Did you know that movie studios now commonly use Linux to render
their special effects sequences because it's easy to set up a
huge farm of fast Linux boxes? Titanic's big scenes were rendered
by a big farm of Alphas running Linux. Not DEC Unix; Linux
provided the best bang for the buck. Companies needing to set
up simulation farms may well do the same- if you'll let them.
In case you're not already up to your ears in Linux info-
http://www.isdmag.com/Editorial/1998/CoverStory9807.html and
http://www.eet.com/dac98/news_linux.html
discuss engineers' feelings about Linux.
Good up-to-date sources of Linux news include
the Linux Weekly News htp://lwn.net/ and (freshmeat) http://freshmeat.net .
Everyone knows Linux has a big following in the US and Europe, but
India seems keen on Linux, too; a popular computer magazine there
has distributed Linux on CD as an insert several times,
and has given Linux a prominent spot on their web site (
http://www.pcquest.com/ ).
- Dan
<hr>
From: mengineer@some_eda.com (The Marketing Engineer)
To: dkegel@ni.net (Dan Kegel)
Subject: RE: Linux Hurdles
Organization: Some EDA Company
Hi Dan,
Thanks for all the info. I've forwarded your email below to our
engineering and marketing teams. I doubt you've pushed us over the Linux
edge but I'm sure you've nudged us closer.
Best Regards,
The Marketing Engineer
Technical Marketing Engineer, Some EDA Company, mengineer@some_eda.com
</pre>
------- End of forwarded message -------
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