Has PTC brought Mathcad down?

Dave: I can sympathize. For three weeks I have been jumping through hoops trying to get answers to some questions answered before I try to upgrade from 14.0 to 15.0 Since you did or are doing the upgrade, you may be able to answer a questions I have been trying to get answered by PTC.

I was running 14.0 and some features stopped working when I changed my operating system to Windows 7. I did an uninstall and tried to reinstall. Big mistake, the reinstall wouldn't run because some files would not copy. Instead of having a running version of MC, albeit without some of the bells and whistles, I now have nothing. Question: do I have to have an operatiing version of 14 on my computer or is the upgrade standalone?

Any help would be appreciated.

You have to remember that PTC is now an industrial megalith, with its own inertias....

A colleague here has managed our Pro/e usage for a number of years and says that this often happens with acquistions. Acquisitions get sucked in, nothing much appears to happen for a few years, then 'it' re-emerges in a whole new form focussed as an adjunct to its core business.

MathCAD Prime is currently being tested, which in its first form was most definately aimed at "draughtsman" activities, and had missed many of the points that makes MathCAD such a great tool. Some of those issues are being addressed but one still has concerns. Some of the problems are not of PTCs making, such as the need to change its underlying symbolic engine (which has a greater reach than just directly entered symbolic calculations (->), the original Mathsoft patents include its use for tracking the updated state of the equations being edited and knowing which to update).

MathCAD is currently lacking a suitable visionary that can see where it can go as a proper power tool for [proper / advanced] engineering mathematics. If they focus on arithmetic and prettyness too much they will throw out the baby rather than the bath-water.

The area that mathcad lacks is a good way to carry forward "time" as a process variable whereby one can simulate (with overwrite) activities in systems, or process data live. MathCAD lacks the ability to "forget" old data in a controlled, easily appreciable manner.

For me, It also needs to keep ahead in the units area (I use radians every day, and need to track misapplication of its [lack of] units).

Philip

I'm not going to get into the technical aspects of that question. It's very tempting, because to date PTC's technical contribution to the product has not been exactly stellar. However, there has recently been considerable progress at PTC in that respect (due to both outside influences and the influence of certain PTC employees who should get medals for perseverance!), so there is some light at the end of the tunnel.

I do feel the need to scream about the licensing though. Since PTC took over, the licensing experience for Mathcad has become the worst of any software product I have ever purchased, from any company. And it has gone from bad to worse. The way single users were treated in terms of maintenance releases was horrible. They have now "fixed" that by forcing everyone to buy maintenance for at least the first year, regardless of whether you believe that you will actually get any maintenance releases in that period (I have my doubts). I don't need their technical support, so if I don't get at least one maintenance release for my money then as far as I am concerned it's just a "PTC maintenance tax".

I have never had to sign as many documents (or any documents, in fact) as I had to get the upgrade from 14 to 15. If it wasn't for the fact that Mathcad is a tool that I have used for so long I rely on it I would have just dropped the documents in the bin and gone elsewhere. Then when I did install the upgrade the licensing wouldn't work anyway! I had to send an e-mail to the PTC licensing goons and wait around twiddling my proverbial thumbs until someone there decided that I wasn't some sort of criminal, and sent me a key that actually worked.

The licensing experience for Mathcad is now onerous, draconian, slow, and obviously doesn't even work properly a lot of the time (based on posts to these forums I am certainly not alone in having it not work correctly!). So, in fact, I would go so far as to say, without any exaggeration, that PTC's licensing for Mathcad is at least one order of magnitude worse than that for any other software product I have ever purchased, from any company! It sucks.

Hi Folks,

First I just want to thank you for your comments and input regarding the licensing and install issues. We've been listening and are doing our best to fix the issues.

Included below is the notice going out to our Mathcad customers but I wanted you to be the first to see it. Feel free to provide feedback:

Customers using the Mathcad product are central to the success of the Mathcad Business – period. We know our customers are some of the most passionate people out in the market, and the important feedback you provide helps shape the future of our product.

We know customers have been experiencing some challenges with installing the software and acquiring a license with the release of Mathcad 15.0 – and we’ve been listening. The Mathcad team has spent time reviewing the process, and we have identified a few areas causing the issues. Here are the fixes we’re working hard to implement and solve the problems:

1. Simplified instructions and clarification on what information is required to enter into the Wizard during the install process
   
2. Better, clearer error messaging
   
3. Overall a better workflow for the user
   

We also want to put a stop to all the back-and-forth transfers within PTC that customers have experienced when trying to resolve their issues. So we're looking into adding a Mathcad Customer Advocate whose purpose will be helping our customers, by acting as the ONE POINT of contact to resolve issues and improve the overall user experience. In the meantime, please continue to send us your feedback by email at -.

Our customers are our greatest asset, so we will do everything possible to provide the high quality experience you expect. We also remain committed to delivering the best engineering calculation software in the market.

Thank You

I have been a user of mathcad since its DOS days ( probably at least 20 years ago). I am using it every day at work, and basically bought every single release upgrade ever since ( except that I stopped at 14 ...)

I have noticed , as many others noticed that the process of upgrading as become worse and worse lately to the point where I I am holding to my Mathcad 14 ( and I didn't even try to update with some of the latest mathcad 14 maintenance releases). At this point I don't intend to get Mathcad 15, one of the main reason being that PTC seemed to haved dropped any interest into supporting the single users and want everybody to switch to the enterprise-type users ( with its nightmarish installation issues, higher costs, and maintenance yearly fees that a single users doesn't need and doesn't want ).

Through the years , I always felt that Mathcad was one of the best software I had, and one of the most enjoyable to work with. I am a big fan of Mathcad, but I have the feeling that PTC is making Mathcad more and more a niche-type software for the CAD users, and that Mathcad might unfortunately go away from being the general Math software that it once was...

I didn't see the advantage of upgrading to Mathcad 15, as none of the new features seemed compelling to me, and was waiting to see what Mathcad Prime would be, but I just read that Mathcad Prime, wouldn't even have all the eatures we are used to with the earlier versions... What ?!

Certainly not a piece of software I intend to buy then...

PTC seems to have decided to finally give up on Mathcad most fervent supporters ( the early users, the single users ). A pity !

Sylvain