From the autodesk forums at:
http://forums.autodesk.com/t5/eagle-forum/new-eagle-licensing/td-p/6814846/highlight/false
Hello Everyone,
In this post we will be briefly describing how the new subscription model for EAGLE works.
Firstly, the Autodesk licensing model is subscription based and the EAGLE paid license will require that you install the SW and then generate an account on accounts.autodesk.com to retrieve your license entitlement.
If you lose your network connection, the SW has a 14-day heartbeat that will enable you to work offline for 14 days.
All of your data is stored locally, so you are in complete control of your data.
We will continue to provide the freeware version of EAGLE. In order to use it you will still need to register an account with Autodesk.
In an upcoming release we will be adjusting the software so in the worst case scenario, where internet is unavailable past 14 days, the software will revert to free mode. That way you can always review your designs.
You can review the current EAGLE pricing by visiting this page.
Jorge Garcia
Product Support Specialist for EAGLE
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Crow here. I can only describe this as bad news for the maker community. One of Eagle’s strengths was it’s relatively low entry costs, starting at the freeware level. This might explain why OSHPark is now accepting KiCAD files in addition to Eagle files (aside from general RS274x gerber data). As of now, EagleCAD version 7.7.0 is likely the last one released before the new sub model takes over for version 8. I would grab v7.x while you can at ftp://ftp.cadsoft.de/eagle/program/
I started with v4.09 in 2002 and while I will use 7.x to maintain exsting projects, I will be looking into KiCAD and DipTrace. I will never use the software-as-a-service subscription model. Thus passes the glory of the world.
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Please note that for Mac (El Capitan) Users at least, Version 7.7 is still no good (almost all menu items are greyed out), stick with version 7.6 for full usability.
Cheers!
I will also never use a software-as-subscription service, but pragmatically the new prices are so astronomical I’m not sure that anyone will use Eagle anymore. $500/year for a 4+ layer board? That’s unbelievable!
This will probably be the thing that splits the open source community, and has us collectively try to move over to KiCAD. And hopefully drive the development of that tool, to make it more usable.