Mathcad Prime 3.1

[VladimirN]

In the PTC product calendar (http://www.ptc.com/cs/product_calendar/PTC_Product_Calendar.htm#RANGE!A474) will be prompted to Mathcad Prime 3.1 F000. Has anyone heard anything about this?

[MikeArmstrong]

I have not seen this and cannot access due to insufficient privileges.

Can you take a screenshot of the notes.

[VladimirN]

Please find in the attachment full version of product calendar on the current date. And here are notes (glossary of terms can be found in the end of calendar):

Mathcad-specific terms, footnotes, and definitions:

1. Mathcad 15.0 will remain on Standard Support at least until the release of Mathcad Prime 5.0

2. The currently available release of Mathcad Prime will always be on Standard Support

3. Mathcad 15.0 will remain on Sustained Support for a period of two years after the end of its Standard Support period.

4. Each version of Mathcad Prime will be on Sustained Support for a period of two years after the subsequent version of Mathcad Prime is released.

[MikeArmstrong]

Thank for the information. So it looks like we're not going to see Prime 4.0 this year after all and it also seems MP4 will not be upto M15 standard.

[Werner_E]

Interesting find, Vladimir.

Especially as its P3.1 F000 and not P3 M010.

An image repair version?

[VladimirN]

Werner Exinger wrote:

... Especially as its P3.1 F000 and not P3 M010 ...

Right, I noticed that too. But why version 3.1? Unclear.

Werner Exinger wrote:

... An image repair version? ...

No. In my first post was not a hint of a joke.

[MikeArmstrong]

I wonder if we are likely to hear anything from PTC on it? What does this mean for Prime 4.0, why the delay?

[VladimirN]

I do not know, but maybe it's a typo and is meant candidate release of Mathcad Prime 4.0 C000?

[MikeArmstrong]

I think you could be right. Prime 4.0 was due out this year. However, I have not seen or heard of any beta testing and it is getting a little late in the day......

[MarkBuckton]

If it isn't a typo then PTC are the most tardy software firm on the planet. So is Vlad saying that we will have waited 2 years for a point one release of Mathcad. I'm a beta tester for a CAD package (not PTC) and like clockwork they issue a new release every year, typically with somewhere around 150 improvents. This company is about 1/10 the size of PTC. PTC are the only software company that I am aware of that actually take features away from their software and make it run slower each year. But I think PTC has a plan evenually MathCad prime will be really easy to use as all you will be able to do is Open and Save. Maybe then they can rename it MathCad Express.

[RichardJ]

If the only options are open and save, you can't change the worksheet. So save is not needed. Even easier to use!

[MarkBuckton]

Yes you are correct but remember PTI are in the recurrent income business so as long as you pay your maintenace you will then be elligible for the fully optimised version that just has the open feature. From my research this will be due in 2020 and called Mathcad Express (Prime Time) version 1.1.

[Werner_E]

Mark Buckton wrote:

Yes you are correct but remember PTI are in the recurrent income business so as long as you pay

Isn't that a harsh judgement - PTI - Parametric Technology Ignorance? Or is it even Incompetence?

[MikeArmstrong]

Werner Exinger wrote:

Mark Buckton wrote:

Yes you are correct but remember PTI are in the recurrent income business so as long as you pay

Isn't that a harsh judgement - PTI - Parametric Technology Ignorance? Or is it even Incompetence?

- now now Werner!!!

[Werner_E]

Just a question, I wasn't sure.

[MikeArmstrong]

Richard Jackson wrote:

If the only options are open and save, you can't change the worksheet. So save is not needed. Even easier to use!

[Werner_E]

Werner Exinger wrote:

... An image repair version? ...

No. In my first post was not a hint of a joke.

I know, I looked at the site in original. What I meant is if Prime 3.1 should be the attempt to repair Prime's damaged image.

[MikeArmstrong]

Werner Exinger wrote:

Werner Exinger wrote:

... An image repair version? ...

No. In my first post was not a hint of a joke.

I know, I looked at the site in original. What I meant is if Prime 3.1 should be the attempt to repair Prime's damaged image.

I don't think Prime is at a point to repair its image. From what I've heard Prime 4.0 won't quite be there either.

[Werner_E]

I know, I looked at the site in original. What I meant is if Prime 3.1 should be the attempt to repair Prime's damaged image.

I don't think Prime is at a point to repair its image. From what I've heard Prime 4.0 won't quite be there either.

I also could not image that P4 would live up to MC15, but then - why P 3.1 and not 3.0 M010 or P4?

One explanation would be what you just said. As P4 is as far as it should be they call it P3.1.

We will see in three to six months and I'm not excited.

[MikeArmstrong]

Werner Exinger wrote:

I also could not image that P4 would live up to MC15, but then - why P 3.1 and not 3.0 M010 or P4?

One explanation would be what you just said. As P4 is as far as it should be they call it P3.1.

We will see in three to six months and I'm not excited.

That wouldn't be the worst idea in the world. Release an improved version of P3 and put ALL resources into making P4 to at least match M15. Then maybe, just maybe, PTC might save face with Prime.

[RichardJ]

Whatever Prime 3.1 is (if they adhere to typical version numbering, it's Prime 3.0 with some minor addition that's more than a bug fix, but not much more), I do not believe Prime 4.0 will match MC15. Not even close in fact. Given how much is still missing and the glacial pace of development that's just not going to happen. I would be very surprised if it happened with Prime 5.0, and at least quite surprised if it happened with Prime 6.0.

[Werner_E]

I also have given uo the hope that Prime will ever live up to Mathcad.

They sure will add more and more features, but probably not all. But missing features is not all. Ist the overall useability which is a great drawback and I am pretty sure they won't be willing to change the UI significantly. We will get a costomizable ribbon, maybe keyboard shortcuts which work for foreign keyboards, too, maybe even a floating palette (I doubt it), but that will be all. If we have luck we will be able to change the highlighting color and other UI options. But the slow and clumsy UI will not change that much I fear.

Someone once wrote here that Prime's UI is like having to type with boxing gloves on - I don't see that this will change significantly.

[RichardJ]

They are committed to the "fluent" interface. I don't like the fluent interface, but if it's done well (as in MS Office) I can live with it. It makes my life harder, and is therefore a step backward, but I can live with it. The problem with the way it's implemented in Prime is that it's only half there, and what is there is not done that well. So using Prime is positively painful, even if the functionality I need is present (which, of course, it isn't).

[MikeArmstrong]

Richard Jackson wrote:

Whatever Prime 3.1 is (if they adhere to typical version numbering, it's Prime 3.0 with some minor addition that's more than a bug fix, but not much more), I do not believe Prime 4.0 will match MC15. Not even close in fact. Given how much is still missing and the glacial pace of development that's just not going to happen. I would be very surprised if it happened with Prime 5.0, and at least quite surprised if it happened with Prime 6.0.

If PTC do not correct this issue until Prime 6.0 they maze well forget about it. How about bringing Prime 3.1 out and delaying the release of Prime 4.0 for another 12 months. That way, even at this pace, at we will see one less inferior version.

[tietjee]

I tried several months to get information on the next upgrade. PTC said the Prime 4.0 would be coming out in the fall. They also did not provide any upgrade information. I feel like I have been paying for their software improvements with out any benefits to me. Does anyone have any idea what PTC is up to? Still using MathCAD15.

[MikeArmstrong]

No David I do not believe anyone on here is in the loop. This came as a surprise to most of us.

[MarkBuckton]

Does anyone have any idea what PTC is up to?

Yes certainly, you may have heard about the international pink panther jewel thieves and the recent copycat gangs who are now imitating their methods. Well by analogy AutoDesk were the original software thieves and PTC have studied their methods well.

[sbaty]

So, Mr. McGough held this 45-minute session at the PTC Live Global event a few weeks ago: "PTC116 PTC Mathcad Product Update and Roadmap"

http://liveglobal.ptc.com/Learn.aspx

Was no one there to share with the rest of us (who didn't pay $1400 to attend) or did PTC require they sign an NDA??

[MarkBuckton]

What $1,400 - PTC should hang their heads in shame. Maybe I was wrong about thieves this is paramount to straight forward extortion. Do PTC pass the duck test? If it they look like a duck, swims like a duck, and quack like a duck, then they are probably are a duck. Maybe the major new feature in Mathcad Prime 4 is a price rise and maybe Mr. McGough needed the 45 minutes to try to persuade the audience to keep paying their maintenance. After all, they were stupid enough to pay $1,400 to listen PTC's flim flam. But maybe I am stupid one for wasting my time in writing this stuff because I am afraid nothing will change. We should demand McGough to tell us what is happing - what is the Mathcad Prime road map and upcomming features, if any? If he doesn't answer these questions then like the rest of PTC he should go to hell in a handbasket.

[VladimirN]

Some new updates about Prime 3.1 can be found in the following blog post:

http://blogs.ptc.com/2014/07/24/enhanced-ptc-creo-and-ptc-mathcad-integration/

http://blogs.ptc.com/tag/ptc-mathcad-prime-3-1/product/mathcad/

Quote:

"In PTC Mathcad Prime 3.1 we will be introducing a new, enhanced integration between PTC Creo and PTC Mathcad. PTC Creo 3.0 M020 users will have the ability to embed a PTC Mathcad Prime 3.1 worksheet directly within their model. This PTC Mathcad worksheet can be opened directly from inside the model view and then edited and saved within the model itself. In this embedded use case, the Mathcad worksheet is stored within the part or assembly it supports thus removing the need to control and manage two different files. This embedded PTC Mathcad worksheet can be used as an ad-hoc scratch pad to derive off the cuff calculations or as the source for specific geometry calculations for the model. It can also be used to document engineering knowledge directly associated with the model itself – including company IP or regulatory information. Again, all this information in the PTC Mathcad worksheet is saved and accessed from within the PTC Creo model. This means that where the model goes, the engineering knowledge goes too."...

... "Look out for a follow up post with more details on PTC Mathcad Prime 3.1.".