On 8/26/2009 3:39:28 AM, pleitch wrote:
==
This is my top 5 gripe list:
== Gripe 1: The features that will not be included in Prime 1.0. This is my number 1 gripe because even if given the final product for free it is absolutely useless to me without the "basic" features of programming and symbolics.... and richer graphing... and so on. I can't use the graphs for publication, I can't use programs to process the data. I can't do much at all. I know others have asked the question, who could use it (who is the target audience), because it has me stumpped.Without knowledge of the target audience it is �difficult� to comment, because speculation about the Operational Requirement is just that �speculation�. As previously mentioned, most of the posters on this forum (and the Collab generally), may not be representative of the actual, and potential, user community.
Having listened, over the years, to some of the reasons features are absent or somewhat restricted, I have this vague feeling that some of us may be talking about up-gunning a Main Battle Tank plus fitting it with advanced C4 systems, when it turns out the main group of end users is having a problem with the musket.
== Gripe 2: There appears to have been no consultation of the community of users. They are allowing us to Beta test the application - but Beta testing is the end of the development process. I've done an MBA an for a product like this, product developed without prior and on-going market research (consultation) is doomed.I don�t think that�s true. I haven�t been involved but I�ve seen reference to an Alpha test and, by keeping my ears to the ground, I think some users have been involved. But see above about the possible range of users.
== Gripe 3: The fact that worksheets are "paper" based in layout. Ummm... WHY!!!!???? This is 2009, not 1999!!! Things just aren't printed as much as they were a decade ago.Maybe not, but they still are. Bookshelves and magazine racks don�t seem to be any emptier. All of our company in-house documents are still virtually paper based, and despite best efforts to make it a paperless office, the printers are busy working their way through rain-forests every day. I refuse to even consider screen reviewing some documents � the technology�s just not there yet.
== Isn't it a mathematics workspace rather than a desktop publishing tool???? It should be the opposite focus of a publishing tool, like Excel where Print Areas and other Page Setup options are normally done after the worksheet has been created. It can still print very nice documents if you want, but that is an after-thought to the central purpose of the software.It�s both and should be capable of supporting whatever phase of a project its used for. The goal should be end-to-end implementation of a project in Mathcad rather than faffing around with multiple applications depending what you�re doing.
If all you�re doing is maths whiteboarding a problem, then a paperless environment is fine, but most commercial projects will take it further than that and want something fairly neatly layed out. See
http://collab.mathsoft.com/read?112745,12 for some further thoughts.
Two main goals of using any mathematical tool are using it to develop ideas, in which case layout isn�t necessarily that much of an issue, and communicating those ideas to others, in which case layout is of prime importance. Don�t forget that whilst Excel may not be particularly paper-oriented, it still has a wide range of formatting tools available to it to improve the appearance and allow users to both read and interact with it.
== I'd like to know what % of worksheets ever get printed. On my Mathcad 14 I would say about 0.01%, but maybe I print more than most.Work stuff? Almost all of it, for archiving and review if nothing else (we still need a paper master copy).
Personal? About 2%, mostly for reviewing (As even Prime doesn�t allow multiple views onto a single worksheet, I find it difficult to review a long worksheet by flicking up and down it)
== Gripe 4: The data entry is VERY slow. In the worksheet I posted on dates the final Copy and Paste of formula became so slow that at times I thought the program had locked up. Many times I clicked and typed, but the delay was sooo loooong that it ended up just throwing my keystrokes at the end of the forumla (not where I had clicked). But it's not just the program that is slow, the constant interaction with the ribbon just to write text or select a different option is a very slow, clunky process.Yep. Hopefully that will improve. I know they�re looking into it.
== Gripe 5: Broad ranging changes in keyboard shortcuts and formatting. For instance I'm used to pressing Ctrl + 6 for the superscript (for matrix column). But now it means "or"... which is displayed as a down arrow. So you press the key that has the up arrow (carat) for a down arrow.
== �Inevitable that there will be some likes and dislikes, particularly if attempts are made to rationalize keys and free up keys to provide other requested shortcuts. I�m hanging fire on this until I�ve had a proper chance to play with it � which isn�t looking likely at the moment as several of the key combinations don�t work on my UK keyboard.
Stuart
