Where are new MCAD Users Coming From?

[mfrench]

Hi Folks,

I'm a professor at a large university (40,000 undergrad students and grad students).  I'm teaching a math review class for grad students and asked them to vote on what software they wanted me to use, Mathcad, Matlab, Mathematica or Maple.  I briefly described each and told them Mathcad was capable and the easiest to use.  The vote was unanimous for Matlab, so that's what we're using.

I can't help thinking that MCAD users are a small and shrinking group.  Do we have any numbers on the size of the MCAD community and where new users might come from?

Thanks for your attention.

[StuartBruff]

Mark French wrote:

Hi Folks,

I'm a professor at a large university (40,000 undergrad students and grad students).  I'm teaching a math review class for grad students and asked them to vote on what software they wanted me to use, Mathcad, Matlab, Mathematica or Maple.  I briefly described each and told them Mathcad was capable and the easiest to use.  The vote was unanimous for Matlab, so that's what we're using.

I wonder what the result would have been if they had the opportunity to do some coursework with each one for a week or so?  Out of curiosity, why did they choose Matlab? Familiarity? Commercial Use? Potential? Capability? ??

I can't help thinking that MCAD users are a small and shrinking group.  Do we have any numbers on the size of the MCAD community and where new users might come from?

I've had that same concern for a number of years.  Within my engineering group, there are a few long-term Mathcad users, all of whom extol the benefits of Mathcad and wish it were more widespread. I use Matlab, Mathematica and Mathcad, and much prefer working in Mathcad for its ease of use. However, the group has standardized on Matlab and Simulink.   I imagine that familiarity gained at University is part of the reason for adopting Matlab. Another aspect, as would be expected, is capability and Mathcad lacks a number of features (eg true multi-dimensional array support) that Matlab and other applications possess.   The limitations of Prime compared to Mathcad 15 can't help perception either (eg, working with images in Prime is a *major* pain).

I also think that PTC would be better served by having a Personal/Home licence fee in line with that of Mathematica, Matlab and Maple (~£230) rather than jumping straight in at over £1000.   Whilst I like the idea of Prime Express being free (obviously!), I can't help but think that PTC marketing would have been better served by including programming in Express - that way, Express would be more useful to people, hence making it more likely that people would recommend it for work (although a capability licencing structure, akin to Matlab's, making it reasonable for individuals to buy Programming or Image Processing may be as effective).

Stuart

[kmajewski]

I also think that PTC would be better served by having a Personal/Home licence fee in line with that of Mathematica, Matlab and Maple (~£230) rather than jumping straight in at over £1000

There is Student Version available for $105.

[StuartBruff]

Karol Majewski wrote:

I also think that PTC would be better served by having a Personal/Home licence fee in line with that of Mathematica, Matlab and Maple (~£230) rather than jumping straight in at over £1000

There is Student Version available for $105.

Indeed, but you have to be undertaking a course of study at a University (or equivalent) and its use is limited to coursework.  So, sadly, I'm well past taking advantage of this offer! And if I were to return to Uni, I'd probably being doing postgrad research, which isn't covered by the Student Licence. 😞   I suspect the majority of potential users fall outside the conditions of the Student Licence (even maths/science/engineering students in secondary-level education, who should be more than capable of getting to grips with Mathcad and its more freeform / literate progamming approach.

Stuart

[mfrench]

Hi Stuart,

They know that Matlab is the most widely used software for scientific and engineering computing.  It's clearly very powerful and the number of m files floating around is huge.    Basically, the students don't want to spend time and energy working with something they'll never see again and they know Matlab is universal.

I think you're right that part of the problem is access to MCAD.  Prime Express is definitely a step in the right direction, but I'm afraid it might be too little, too late.  I'd like to see PTC pretty much air drop MCAD on schools, but I guess that's not realistic. 

I may be one of those old MCAD users you describe.  I've used it since the DOS days and prefer it, but I don't even know any other Mathcad users on campus.  I'm apparently one of a very small group.  I imagine that MCAD will eventually just be a module within Creo.

[mfrench]

Hi Folks,

I didn't mean to start a MCAD gripe session, though I certainly have my share of gripes.  I really do want to know where the new MCAD users are coming from.  For example, my son learned Mathematica in high school and many engineering schools (like the one here) teach classes on Matlab.  How are people introduced to MCAD?

Thanks a bunch,

Mark

[StuartBruff]

Mark French wrote:

Hi Folks,

I didn't mean to start a MCAD gripe session, though I certainly have my share of gripes.  I really do want to know where the new MCAD users are coming from.  For example, my son learned Mathematica in high school and many engineering schools (like the one here) teach classes on Matlab.  How are people introduced to MCAD?

The same way - via the education system.  New products do get successfully introduced even in the face of entrenched applications, so I think part of the marketing strategy should be to understand how and why they succeed.   Another factor is the time and effort involved in creating a course around Mathcad rather than whatever is use (be it Matlab, Python, Java, etc).  It might be worth while working with a number of instructors to help them develop/adapt material that is Mathcad focused.  This would also reap benefit in showing where the capability holes are (eg, plotting and basic array operations (such as specialized creation, repetition, deleting elements and set manipulation), which would act as basis for new/amended features.

Otherwise, I suspect you're right about Mathcad just being a Creo module.

Stuart