Document formatting in Prime 2

[Guest2]

I just did a short testdrive with Prime2 and I am missing some functionality compared to MC15, but maybe the tesdrive was too short an I have missed them,

- Where are the templates? I could not finde any to customize headers, footers, borders, etc.

- Borders can not set to custom values, just three presets? Are you sure?

- Headers and footers seem a little bit clumsy. Dont't think its an advantage in daily work to be able to freely place math and text regions there.

- horizontal and vertical allign missing

- general the reaction of the interface is rather slow - will this be fixed?

- another thing I would miss a lot if I had to do real work with Prime are password proteced locked regions. It seems in Prime they can only be collapsed but not locked

Why is PTC launching such an unfinshed product and calls it Version 2?

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

Because it's the second release.

If you think this is "unfinished," have you looked at version 1?

[BTBeilke]

Fred Kohlhepp wrote:

Because it's the second release.

If you think this is "unfinished," have you looked at version 1?

Mathcad Prime Beta 1 and Mathcad Prime Beta 2 would have been more appropriate names. I'm still waiting for a Prime product that can honestly claim to be a full-featured, top to bottom upgrade to Mathcad 15. I know there are specific areas in which upgrades have been made. But for me, it's still virtually unuseable. But hey, for the cost of a subscription, we all get to continue to be beta testers!

I was looking forward to Prime 2 with great hope and anticipation. Sadly, I've found it very disappointing. But of course, if you choose Prime 1 as your point of reference, it's fantastic!

[Guest2]

Mathcad Prime Beta 1 and Mathcad Prime Beta 2 would have been more appropriate names. I'm still waiting for a Prime product that

I would even suggest Prime Beta 0.2 Preview. Still don't understand why a company would ruin its remaining reputation that way by following a not perfect but fair product with a totally crippled successor.

So I have to assume, that the things I was missing (templates, customizable borders, password protection) really are not (yet??) implemented?

BTW - is it just me because I am used to the old MC-interface who feels that Primes interface is way off the announcement of being intuitive? Its not only because I dont like the ribbons.

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

PTC supplies ProE (now Creo?), WindChill, and several other large engineering CAD related products. I believe they bought Mathcad with the idea of integrating it with their other programs and that Prime is that ongoing effort. It's not clear to me why that integration requires a whole new product, but I'm not a computer programmer or a software engineer. The point is that their reputation does not stand or fall with Mathcad; they don't really care whether we like and approve of the new version--they're targeting a new audience.

They keep promising that Prime will (eventually) have most of the features currently in 15, but it does not appear to be a priority.

As far as the new interface: There was a major editor change back around version 7 (I believe.) I remember a major disruption,and trying to figure out why. We adjusted, learned the new rules, and soldiered on. The difference between then and now is that there was an improved product with a new editor, not a substandard product.

[rag]

Thanks for your detailed comments. Sadly enough it seems you are right with your appraisal of the situation. I remember back in 2007(?) the rumors about PTC intention of killing Mathcad as a standalone product.

The difference between then and now is that there was an improved product with a new editor, not a substandard product.

🙂 Well said!

[Guest2]

If you think this is "unfinished," have you looked at version 1?

No, according to the announcements and the critics here, I got the impression, it would not be worth doing so and from what I see now I think it was a good idea to skip it.

I just noticed, that my reply to Blane in this thread does not show up in the "What is Everyone Doing" list ???

[tietjee]

I have been a long time user of MahCAD and very disapponter with Prime2. There are some very basics missing. The plot (2d) is not useful all. It does not support engineer "checking" orpresentation. The technician had no clue on the difference between MathCAD15 and Prime2 plotting. It seems to me that a bunch of programer are working on Prime2. No input from the technical world. Could some suggest an alternate product? I am starting to look for something different