@tslewis wrote:
I agree the legacy issue is a real pain and definitely worse in mathcad vs other programs like word or excel. This is exasperated when we have significant ip tied up in mathcad functions and sheets. I agree if it is not possible to open a legacy prime sheet that is unacceptable and ptc need to resolve this.
But not being able to open a newer version of prime on an older is the norm and has been for any software, per autodesk other vendors.
You misunderstand. Any version of Prime can open a worksheet created in an earlier version of Prime, and can convert worksheets from Mathcad 15 and earlier (they may only work after some hand fixes, or they may not work at all, but they can be converted). However, you cannot save to a file format that is compatible with an earlier version of Prime. So if you have Prime 4, and someone else has Prime 3, it is impossible for you to share a worksheet with them. There is other software for which that is also true (e.g. Creo, Solidworks), but it is certainly not the norm.
@tslewis wrote:
I converted all my old v15 sheets to prime using the converter. It could be worse but at least if we dedicate time it can be done. A script to batch process this should be provided by ptc.
The converter can take as many files as you want in one go, so I'm not sure what you are asking for that is not already provided. Depending on what is in the worksheet, some of them may need to be fixed up by hand afterwards, and some may be unfixable, but you can leave the converter to run overnight if necessary, on thousands of files.
@tslewis wrote:
We all have to move on. Prime is fundamentally a completely new engine, based on the latest .Net framework and will only get more and more powerful. Multi threading for instance which can't be done in V15. Personally, I think it's best to adopt new technology and put up with teething issues. I use REVIT also - we hate some of the things it does but accept eventually it's going to get there.
I agree, we all have to move on. But not necessarily to Mathcad Prime. I am now looking at the much larger learning curve of moving to Mathematica or Maple, because I do not believe that "eventually it's going to get there". At least, not in my lifetime. PTC has been working on the development of Prime for almost a decade now (seriously!), and it's still got really basic limitations. Granted it has some features that Mathcad 15 does not, although multi-threading is not as important to me as, for example, mixed units in matrices. For me, those advantages just don't overcome the serious limitations though.
Something that you may want to know, regarding continuing access to your own IP, is that starting next year PTC is moving to a subscription only model. So if you are looking to get new capability in Prime 5.0 and beyond, be aware that any IP you create in that software will only be accessible if you keep paying PTC, every year.
@tslewis wrote:
I think the graph items you dislike are not really important.
We all have different needs, and if the missing features are not important to you, then Prime will work for you, and may indeed be your best option. The gripes about Prime come from those people for whom the missing features are a problem, and for them Prime is not a viable option. Contributors to these forums, like any other technical forum, tend to be power users that use almost every feature in the software, so when those features were stripped from the software there has been a vocal backlash. And, indeed, a desertion. Many such users are long gone, and will never come back. PTC knows this, but they don't really care about our opinion. We are a minority, and we will just move on to other software packages that meet our needs. PTC will happily slam the door behind us, because we will no longer be on the forums complaining.
