( DAC 99 Item 21 ) ----------------------------------------------- [6/25/99]

 THE "TACO BELL CHIHUAHUA" AWARD:  Synopsys bought System Science.  Cadence
 bought DAI.  Avant! bought interHDL and still has some customer anger to
 calm.  So, this year's EDA Taco Bell Chihuahua (i.e. small but seen
 everywhere) Award goes to Veritools.  ( http://www.veritools-web.com )

    "Avanti is 'actively' encouraging users to move to Nova-RTL by
     implementing a high maintenance fee and a 23-minute lockout license
     scheme that prevents users from accessing another license for 23
     minutes after one use.  I told Avanti in no uncertain terms that
     this did not sit well with me and I would actively search for another
     solution."

         - an anon engineer


    "I heard a lot of complaints about interHDL.  Sorry if I offended
     anybody...  We've been using X-tek's translator, and it works great.
     Everyone that has it really thinks it's superior, plus it's a LOT
     cheaper."  ( http://www.x-tekcorp.com )

         - Joe Kryzak on comp.lang.verilog replying to interHDL founder Eli
           Sternheim's suggestion to use interHDL's VHDL-to-Verilog tool


    "Veritool's Undertow/IV Package       http://www.veritools-web.com

     Many of the same features that Debussy has are present here including
     the state machine tool, source code browser, posedge/negedge source
     line analyzer, perl scripting interface, RTL and gate level schematic
     generation, and a built-in LINT tool (goodbye Avanti !)."

         - an anon engineer