A while ago I wrote about a free electrical schematic tool available from within your browser. With the announcement from Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2014, Autodesk has shown that it, too, is willing to offer free online electrical design tools.
Circuits.io, Autodesk's latest acquisition, joins the Autodesk 123D family under the name 123D Circuits. Users with 123D accounts automatically have access to the new tool. Existing circuits.io users will have their accounts merged into their existing - or newly created - 123D account including 123D Premium status as part of the migration.
Sometimes I wonder, does this Maker Movement and free online software leave any room for professional software. When professionals are getting the job done with free software, why pay thousands of dollars? For example, Autodesk's own 123D portfolio is expanding to the point of having every tool a designer or engineer would need. Take into account all the other free and open source tools and may just be possible to run a design business without paying a dime in software. An interesting hypothesis, if nothing else.
Try 123D Circuits for yourself or learn more from the source.
Sources:
http://blog.123dapp.com/2014/01/circuits-io-is-now-autodesk-123d-circuits
http://news.autodesk.com/press-release/corporate-sustainability/autodesk-completes-acquisition-circuitsio