I bought PTC MathCAD 7 last year - do I need to purchase MathCAD 8 if I want to upgrade?

[DS_10024912]

Hi,

I'm wondering how to upgrade to MathCAD 8. 

Thanks,

-DS

[BenLoosli]

If your subscription is still active, the upgrade just needs to be downloaded and installed.

This for the commercial version, not sure about the Student version.

[DS_10024912]

Is there an update button/link within the PTC MathCAD 7 software?

[BenLoosli]

Not that I know of, but here is the download web page: PTC Software Download - MathcadPrime

[RS_10295782]

Yes, I'm still using Mathcad 8. I got started with the last DOS version and upgraded my personal and work copies each time through v8. Then the upgrade price increased to a level I couldn't justify because v8 did and still does most of what I need (primarily algebra, trig, keeping track of units, an occasional matrix, etc.) I mostly use Mathcad for general civil engineering calculations such as retaining walls, hydraulics, and anything that requires detailed documentation.

However, the interface has always been a bit cludgy to me and there are a couple of features in subsequent versions I could find a use for. Also, most of the Mathcad documents available online don't support v8. So, I am thinking of upgrading. It could be to v15/Prime, or it could be to an intermediate version.

For those of you who have kept up with the upgrades, do you think it's worth getting v15/Prime? Is there an intermediate version you prefer? I know Prime is not a substitute for v15, but would it be a reasonable substitute for v8?

Thanks for your opinions.

[Werner_E]

As far a I am aware you can't buy/rent Mathcad 15 any more. PTC has stopped selling it - probably because of the license fees they had to pay to Mathworks for their symbolic engine (muPad).

And Prime is quite a different beast and I guess you will have to find out yourself if it fits your needs, runs your existing worksheets after conversion and if its a reasonable V8 substitute for you. You can download Prime 8 an test drive the full version it for 30 days. After that trial period it will fall back to a limited "Express" mode and you will not be able to use the converter, symbolic calculations, programming and functions considered "premium".
Chances are that the free Prime Express may be all you need 😉

[RS_10295782]

Mathcad Prime 7 comes with a converter. People who were on earlier versions of Mathcad Prime may remember that in order to open Mathcad 13, 14, or 15 worksheets in Prime, you also needed to have Mathcad 15 installed on your computer. Mathcad Prime 7 eliminates that.

Dinar Gurus

[StuartBruff]

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@RS_10295782 wrote:

Yes, I'm still using Mathcad 8. I got started with the last DOS version and upgraded my personal and work copies each time through v8. Then the upgrade price increased to a level I couldn't justify because v8 did and still does most of what I need (primarily algebra, trig, keeping track of units, an occasional matrix, etc.) I mostly use Mathcad for general civil engineering calculations such as retaining walls, hydraulics, and anything that requires detailed documentation.

However, the interface has always been a bit cludgy to me and there are a couple of features in subsequent versions I could find a use for. Also, most of the Mathcad documents available online don't support v8. So, I am thinking of upgrading. It could be to v15/Prime, or it could be to an intermediate version.

For those of you who have kept up with the upgrades, do you think it's worth getting v15/Prime? Is there an intermediate version you prefer? I know Prime is not a substitute for v15, but would it be a reasonable substitute for v8?

---

As Werner says, you're pretty much restricted to upgrading to Mathcad Prime 8, and the best way to see if it's worth the upgrade price is to download the trial version and have a play with it.    As he also says, Mathcad Express 8 may well suit most of your needs, anyway - perhaps, all if you don't need the symbolic (depends upon what you mean by "primarily algebra", and even then you might be able to stick to Mathcad 8 for that).

.

Just to give a bit more insight, what later features would you find useful and what aspects of Mathcad 8 do you find cludgy (and how are they cludgy)?

Stuart

[OD_8822911]

The big problem also is that Prime 7 does not open Prime 8 files. What I think is very stupid. So if you will cooperate with someone who has Prime 8, you will not be able to use his files.

[BenLoosli]

Nothing unusual with that. Very few engineering programs are backwards compatible. New features and functions added to the program that the older version does not know how to handle.

[OD_8822911]

I cannot agree. In 3D modeling programs - yes. On the other hand, e.g., AutoCAD is quite nicely backward compatible. But mathematical program? I had no problem opening files made in v15 in v14. If the file does not contain any special calculations using features from the newer version, there is no need to have such a restriction.

[LucMeekes]

You picked the very one exception to the rule.

None of Mathcad 2 through 13 will open a Mathcad 14 file, in fact Mathcad n will not open a Mathcad n+1 file, except when n=14. And I remember that Mathcad 2001i would sometimes read a Mathcad 11 file, but then their (internal) version numbers are less than 1 apart.

On the other hand, I should expect that it is not difficult to write Prime n such that, upon opening a Prime n+1 (or higher) file, it would state that it could only parse it partly, leaving out the stuff it doesn't understand. However this would leave the user with no clue of what was left out.

Better still is the solution of Mathcad, where Mathcad n will allow to save the file in a format readable by Mathcad n-1 (or lower). Prime doesn't.

Success!
Luc

[OD_8822911]

This time I have to agree. This would be probably the cleanest and fully acceptable solution.

[StuartBruff]

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@OD_8822911 wrote:

The big problem also is that Prime 7 does not open Prime 8 files. What I think is very stupid. So if you will cooperate with someone who has Prime 8, you will not be able to use his files.

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You can - sort of, indirectly.  You download Mathcad Prime 8 and use that.   The reason I say "indirectly" is because if you want to use the full features of Prime 7, but don't have a subscription for Prime 8, Prime 8 will revert to Mathcad Express 8 after the trial period expires.   If the missing features are important to you, at least you can open the Prime 8 worksheet, which will allow you to copy the worksheet manually.   If possible, you can agree with the other party that your Prime 7 version will become the master copy (as it's readable by both versions).   

A major issue is copying images (text is straightforward), as Prime has a frustratingly poor method of handling images - they just take the form of an embedded image that doesn't even retain a live link to the source image. You can't even copy them. One option is to save the worksheet in RTF format, which will allow you to save the images.   It's a lot of work to set up, but might be worth it for some purposes.

However, it might be somewhat moot.   I'm not sufficiently au fait with Mathcad licencing to know how long a full Mathcad Prime 7 subscription will be available now that Mathcad Prime 8 has been released into the wild.

Stuart

[DJNewman · Accepted solution]

FYI, people with active Mathcad subscriptions are entitled to both Mathcad Prime 7 and Mathcad Prime 8 and can download either or both at no additional cost.

There is no cost to upgrade; the subscription price covers that. It's been an on-going PTC research interest in understanding what prevents folks from upgrading to the latest version when it comes out. It's easier to understand that for a complicated, heavily customisable enterprise-wide product like Windchill; but that doesn't really apply as much to Mathcad and its typical customer base.

In the Mathcad Prime 8 launch webinar, I asked the product manager about Prime 7 opening Prime 8 worksheets (28:43 in the replay), and he said he's looking for customer use cases for that direction of compatibility. He said one use case is when one is working at a large company or a company that deals with other companies and if they have different versions, there ought to be a "base version" of compatibility.

It's in the established spreadsheet of customer requests, but it hasn't reached the priority level of actually being included yet since the business value isn't quite as defined as other requests being worked on for the next few releases, like a lot of the still-missing legacy Mathcad features.