On Thu, 20 Jan 2005 12:45:53 -0500, Peter Johansson wrote: > I think a better analogy would be an painter who chooses to purchase > their paints ready-made rather than make their own paints directly > from (natural or synthetic) pigments. In the domain of electronic and > digital arts, having someone design/produce a PCB falls into the same > category as a painter using pre-made paints. I think the better analogy would be the painter who has never picked up a paint brush, but just writes down a description of what his work should look like because he can't draw. Sure he might have a good idea and may even be useful, but he is demonstrably lacking a large portion of what makes up his "art." While you can exist without the nitty-gritty detail of board layout, not having any experience in it is going to be noticable gap in your knowledge. In my opinion, the digital outcome is the easiest part of the design. Getting everything to actually work together in real life is where the skill lies. Doing so with a minimum number of iterations is what separates the skill levels. > But this is Art after all, a large part of which is to have each > viewer make up their own mind... Um, no. This is engineering. Our designs may be creative, but their success is measurable. "The probe crashed into the desert!" "Yeah, but at least it looked good." Bradley -- http://www.piclist.com PIC/SX FAQ & list archive View/change your membership options at http://mailman.mit.edu/mailman/listinfo/piclist