Thanks Mr. Colton: Imitation really is the sincerest form of flattery

Recognize the name Charles Caleb Colton? No? He was a British writer who in 1820 coined the phrase, "Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery." His words could not ring more true today. With some amusement, I watched the unveiling of a "new and revolutionary" custom design product on Monday, September 22.

As I watched, I could not help to see that it had an umistakable familiarity (which was also highlighted).  It "looked" very similar to the previous generation of Cadence's own Virtuoso software. Capabilities that Virtuoso has had for years, were demonstrated proudly and touted as "revolutionary".  Actually when they were developed by Cadence all those years ago, they were revolutionary for an industry steeped in using netlists and a vi editor.  "New" custom design comes in using design constraints inside Virtuoso to maintain the intent of the design throughout the process. "Revolutionary" comes by introducing new layout techniques such as module generators And lastly "forward thinking" in mixed-signal comes by combining the power of the Virtuoso and Encounter platform to cut the mixed-signal implementaiton cycle by 25%.

But for me the coup de grace was their "new and revolutionary" marketing campaign for this tool.



Look familiar?  It should. Cadence also developed and used a similar marketing campaign in 2006 to launch our new Virtuoso.  I was personally involved deeply in the development of the Virtuoso marketing campaign and take great delight in seeing the idea copied.

Well, there you have it.