MathCAD Prime 3.0 and 15

[ptc-5494177]

Does MathCAD Prime 3.0 come with MathCAD 15? I can't seem to find this information anywhere on the PTC website.

[Werner_E]

Mathcad 15 may not be shipped along with Prime but if you buy Prime you are entitled to use Mathcad 15 as well. Mathcad 15 will use the same license file which you get during installation of Prime. You may download MC15 from the PTC website.

[ValeryOchkov]

See

http://www.ptc.com/products/mathcad/mathcad-15-0/free-trial.htm

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

To clarify:

Prime does not come with 15,

15 comes with Prime. (Buy this cubic zirconia, get this diamond for free!)

(You need 15 to convert old files to Prime; you CANNOT convert Prime 3 to anything else!)

[Werner_E]

Yes! Thats reality vs. PTC marketing.

A sad story after all.

The only meaningful reason for buying Prime is that thats the only way to get MC15.

[ptc-6401662]

there is currently no way to use a mathcad prime 3.0 (or 2.0) file in mathcad 15.

this seems like total nonsense, and whoever had this bright idea should be shown the door.

any chance of some add-on for mathcad 15 to allow it to open a prime file?

Doug Reeves

[AndyHermanson]

This isnt different from any other software...You cant open a creo 3 file in creo 2 or an AutoCAD 2014 file in AutoCAD 2010. Its rare that you can open newer files in older software.

[ValeryOchkov]

Andy Hermanson wrote:

This isnt different from any other software...You cant open a creo 3 file in creo 2 or an AutoCAD 2014 file in AutoCAD 2010. Its rare that you can open newer files in older software.

Sorry, But Prime is (at one side) Mathcad and (at other side) not Mathcad.

Not Mathcad - why?

We cannot open (or convert) Prime file in Mathcad 15

But when I solve new task I begin do it in Prime and then if I see that I have not nessesery tools - I go to Mathcad 15

[AndyHermanson]

I guess I don't understand what you mean for Mathcad on one side on not on the other side.

I understand that Prime is not what or where is should be. I have spoken with the PM's on this quite frequently as we cannot go to Prime yet either. But I also don't expect it be opened by older versions. There are many reasons for this

1. Newer or different features

2. code changes

3. the engine that drives it all is also different.

Mathcad Prime was a complete rewrite of the code. There should be no expectation for it to be backwards compatible.

If I create a part in Creo Parametric 3.0 and if something doesnt work or another user on Creo Parametric 2.0 wants to use it, I dont have any expectations they should be compatible. They are not the same software.

[ValeryOchkov]

Andy Hermanson wrote:

If I create a part in Creo Parametric 3.0 and if something doesnt work or another user on Creo Parametric 2.0 wants to use it, I dont have any expectations they should be compatible. They are not the same software.

Creo is one product of PTC.

Mathcd - one toy, hobby of PTC.

[RichardJ]

In almost no software can an older version read a file from a newer version, although there are notable exceptions (MS Office, for one). However, most software can save from a newer version to an older format, even though sometimes you may lose information by doing so. Mathcad 15 can save as far back as Mathcad 11. Mathcad 11 can save as far back as Mathcad 6. Mathcad Prime cannot save back to Mathcad 15. That's a problem, but given that it was a total rewrite not all that unexpected. However, Mathcad Prime 3.0 cannot save back to Mathcad Prime 2.0, which is ridiculous. The only software that I know of that cannot save to earlier versions are certain CAD packages (Creo and Solidworks both have this "feature"), and Mathcad Prime (written by a CAD company). The only reason for this is to force those with older versions to pay for the upgrade, because otherwise they can't collaborate with those that have the latest version. There's no technical reason it can't be done, it's just a way to hold the customers feet to the fire to extract more money from them.

[ptc-6401662]

when you buy 15, you are given prime. Prime is marketed as mathcad. Yet, to work in prime is much different, and since I am comfortable with 15, that's what I (and many others) will use. If PTC is going to abandon 15 users -who make up 90% of the user base, maybe they should say so.

and as far as not being able to open a newer file with an older program, autocad is not a good example as it is very buggy. Maybe providing a way to convert prime to 15, would make good business sense. If not, maybe prime should not market itself as mathcad. Robert Jackson is correct, PTC appears only interested in a money grab on the backs of old mathcad users.

[athurin]

I am very puzzled here. Clearly, a lot of people are very angry at PTC for what they have done with Prime. I can understand that, although I don't have the issue of the loss of features, since I never used Mathcad 15 (but I am angry for some of the bad implementation and missing features !).

Now, chances are that many of the people that are complaining will never completely switch to Prime. It is going to take years for Prime to catch up with M15, and M15 is not going to get anything new added either. And during this time, competitors are moving forward instead of backwards. So in a way, for people who are "stuck" with M15, one could argue (although it is a bit extreme) that Mathcad is a "dead" (or dying) product.

So for all the people who will never swap to Prime, instead of mourning the loss of M15, why not switch to a competitor product ? There seems to be a couple of serious alternatives (Maple and Mathematica ?). It doesn't involve re-designing all of old sheets (as the old license can still be used to view, I assume), and it is likely that, after a short learning curve, you end up being more productive anyway.

Don't get me wrong, I like complaining as much as everybody else, and nothing unites a community like union against adversity (here, the devil's name is Prime...). I am just curious why after so much time whith things not getting significantly better, one would not act upon that and move away (especially since alternatives exist).

[RichardJ]

If you want the freeform WYSIWYG whiteboard interface your alternatives are Mathcad, Prime, or SMath Studio. Maple and Mathematica are very good, but they do not offer the same interface. They also do not offer unit handling, which is important to me. In addition to that I have hundreds of legacy worksheets, and I don't just view them . They are full of pieces of code I reuse in later worksheets, so for me to move to a completely new platform is a lot more work than just a short learning curve.

Therefore although Prime is severely lacking, for many of us the best option is to stick with it and try to make PTC improve Prime. In the end I expect to have to pay more money to move to an inferior product, because that's the least worst choice.

[athurin]

From what I have seen, Maple is reasonably WYSIWYG (unlike Mathematica, I agree). I am not sure whether it has the "notebook" presentation style, but that's not a deal breaker to me.

And Maple also manages units, or so they say in their online documentation. (That would totally be a deal breaker for me).

I understand the legacy sheets issue. One of the strong points of Mathcad, compared to Excel, is that things are reausable (because they are readable and understandable, which also make it a lot less buggy). But even then, I expect most of it, if it needs to be transfered, will be a "retype". Not as convenient as a simple copy and paste, but if done little by little, surely it is doable.

[RichardJ]

Maybe at some point when I have the time I'll download and play around with Maple to see what it's like. Where I go after Mathcad 15 is not a decision I need to make right now though, or in fact for several years. I don't see any benefit to me switching to a new platform right now, so I'll deal with it at some point in the future.

[zhulaojianke]

Mr Jachson, I have found the other three software like Mathcad.

Miramath, must install python and sympy first:

http://sourceforge.net/projects/miramath/

MathPad, it seems haven't publish.

http://cs.brown.edu/~jjl/mathpad/

MathJournal, same as MathPad, and run on IPhone, IPad, WindowsPhone and Surface.

http://www.xthink.com/MathJournal.html

the last one, CodeForm and CodeProof, very same as Mathcad and can use .xmcd file, and it's very cheap compared with Mathcad Prime.

http://www.technosoft.eu/en/products/codeform_codeproof/

Hope you enjoy!

[zhulaojianke]

Oh, sorry, it's "the ohter four" not "the other three".

[RichardJ]

Thanks. I was aware of miramath, and I should have included that in my list of software with a whiteboard interface. The current version is very limited though, even in comparison to Prime. Mathpad and MathJournal are nice, but they are not replacments for Mathcad. I wasn't aware of codeform. Maybe I'll download the trial and see what it's like.

[ValeryOchkov]

zhu laojianke wrote:

Mr Jachson, I have found the other three software like Mathcad.

www.smath.info is russian free Mathcad

[davidsnelling]

Right on Richard. Our research group, typically 6 to 7 users, has thousands of Mathcad files. There is no practical way are we going to convert them all to Prime. I feel PTC has betrayed users of Mathcad.

[ashaikh945]

I am just rejoining this after an earlier frustrating discussion. Like yourself, I have all my files in MathCad, upto and including MathCad 15. I just posted on another thread that I cannot run MathCad 15 in Windows 8.1 (which on my new machine), nor can I access my earlier MathCad files in Prime 3.0 since it is not backward compatible as far as I can see. As far as I can tell, there is no fix for either problem: no MathCad 15 in Windows 8.1; and no MathCad files in Prime 3.0 (which is of no use to me otherwise).

Is that the final state of affairs? Has anyone found programs that will run MathCad files as is? Does the "www.smath.info is russian free Mathcad" program cited by Valerie Ochkov work? Has anyone tried this?

[RichardJ]

You posted on the other thread that you can't run Mathcad 14 under windows 8.1. You certainly should be able to run Mathcad 15. So which version are you trying to install, and in what way does it not run?

Smath is not a solution.

[mark_neil2]

Hi Anwar,

I coldn't install MC15 on Windows 8.1, either. What I ended up doing was to install Oracle Virtual Box (Oracle VM VirtualBox) in Windows 8.1 and install Windows XP in Oracle Virtual Box (you can install other operating systems, doesn't have to be XP). Then I instaled MC15 on XP. It works fine so far.

Mark.