I, too, have been using Mathcad since the mid-90's or so.
In my experience, I have never had a problem that was so bad that I had to install a service pack to resolve it. Never. Perhaps that speaks to the quality that Mathcad has had over the years, which has, in general been very good.
However, that means that I have had no need for maintenance. Therefore, being forced to buy something that I do not need is something that I find unacceptable. Sorry, that's me. I don't need it. I don't want it, and unless there is a price drop without it, I won't buy.
I appreciate that PTC wants people to be on maintenance. However, I do see that as PTC forcing people who may not otherwise need this agreement to "contribute" to PTC when they otherwise would not. In otherwords, I see this as PTC requiring that I contribute to their revenue stream even though I get no added value.
Also, my primary use of Mathcad has been symbolic math. From what I understand, "Prime" elminates this functionality. I've seen this kind of thing before. Features are removed, and the product is billed as "better." Sorry, for me, symbolics is a must; without it, Mathcad is not of much use to me.
Finally, over the years I have had maybe one or two useage questions. These have always been answered by people in the collaboratory or other forums. So, with kind people answering useage questions, is there a need for maintenance?
Long story short, if the program crashes, then yes, a service pack is needed - though I can see where some users might encounter problems that are far less severe, however, they would like it to work right. But for me, my arm is twisted to buy what I don't want with no discount when I choose not to buy.
So, if PTC refuses to listen to me, that is their choice. I certainly do not consider that good customer relations, and it will likely result in them losing me as a customer.
