Why is Mathcad so Hard to Buy? Am I Doing Something Wrong?

[mfrench]

I'm trying to buy Mathcad for use in the classes I teach.  PTC seems to have handed off their online sales to a company called Digital River, but the web site also directs me to a sales rep who works for a company called EAC Product Development Solutions.  She offered to sell me a 1 year license for $295 when the online price is $56.

I don't understand what's going on.  Is this the same version?

I just got off the phone with the rep at EAC (who was professional and helpful, BTW) and she couldn't explain what PTC was doing, but is trying to get me an answer.  She did say that she gets lots of complaints about how hard it is to deal with PTC.  Ugh.

Can anyone in the community enlighten me?  It seems like PTC has decided to outsource their sales, but has sent it to two different companies who don't talk to each other and have different pricing.  Can this be right?  I have to be missing something.

Mark

[LucMeekes]

If you use it to teach in classes... Do you really need all the features that Prime offers? If not, consider to use the free Express edition of Prime. It really is free, and your students can install it on their home PC's as well.

I guess you've read the stories of support and maintenance and (lack of) development by PTC regarding Prime: why would you pay?

PTC changed their way of doing business regarding Prime in that they supposedly now only sell yearly subscriptions. BTW $295 or $56 seems like a bargain. This link

https://store.ptc.com/DRHM/store?Action=DisplayProductDetailsPage&SiteID=ptc&Locale=en_GB&ThemeID=21925700&Env=BASE&productID=5095770500&categoryID=5321800

will sell an individual license for €625 (about $700 or more?).

Success!
Luc

[mfrench]

I thought about having them use Express, but it's missing a lot of features.  The full feature set only lasts for 30 days and $56 is a pretty reasonable price for Mathcad.

I've just gotten off the phone with the sales rep from EAC Product Development Solutions and she figured out how to match the online student price.  The best part, is that I got to talk with a friendly, well-informed person who solved my problem.  

If anyone at a school or university wants to buy Mathcad, I recommend contacting:

Elizabeth Hall

Education Account Manager

EAC Product Development Solutions  

1-888-225-7579  x 118

[LucMeekes]

For that price, do you get Mathcad 15 along?

And is it a per year subscription?

Luc

[mfrench]

The Prime license has always included a V15 license so files can be converted.  I didn't ask specifically, but I assume this one will as well.

Yes, that's a 1 year subscription.  Apparently, PTC has moved to subscriptions only.

[terryhendicott]

Hi,

I suggest you keep searching and asking questions.  From ptc site:-

https://www.ptc.com/en/academic-program/academic-products/free-software

Mathcad Student Downloads

PTC Mathcad is the industry’s standard for engineering calculation software, enabling you to solve your most complex problems, and share your calculations with colleagues. To prepare students for the work- force, PTC Academic is committed to providing access to Mathcad for free.

Cheers

Terry

[LucMeekes]

Then, if you click further to the Academic or K12 buttons, its an offer for Express.

And the link to FIRST is an offer for Prime 3.1.

Success!

Luc

[mfrench]

I noticed these weird links on their web site.  They are not the only ones, either.  It almost looks like they posted an alpha build of this part of their web site and then never looked at it again.  I had a hard time finding the page for the student version of Mathcad and may not have kept looking had I not already known it was there.

No worries though, EAC is much easier to deal with and seems to have solved the problem for me.

Thanks to the community for your help 🙂

[mfrench]

Terry,

I just checked back and saw your note.  I do know about Mathcad Express and it's helpful.  However, the free license only lasts 30 days, so my students need to buy Mathcad since a semester us 16 weeks.  Fair enough.  My concern is that navigating PTCs web site and figuring out how to buy Mathcad is surprisingly difficult.  The system seems to be set up for corporate or organizational purchases.

Perhaps my current experience will help illustrate.  I bought a student license through EAC (who I found using a link on the PTC web site) and the instructions for install don't work because the customer number on the Order Fulfillment Letter doesn't match the one on my account.

I responded to PTC with a request for assistance and they emailed me back, asking me for a copy of the Order Fulfillment Letter - the one they sent me.  I also contacted EAC, who sent me a different set of instructions for logging in and downloading a license.  Those instructions don't work because I don't have a global support agreement.  I have a site number, a customer number and a sales order number, but apparently that's not enough.

The details in this case probably aren't that important.  I'll go through a couple more cycles with PTC and EAC and will eventually get it working.  My students report the same kinds of problems.

Mark

[Werner_E]

I agree that PTC sure is a company you don't want to have to deal with voluntarily. Getting help with simple things like downloading a software or installing it and get it to run can be quite nerve-racking until you find out the appropriate contact data. PTC doesn't make it easy for customers, thats a fact.

Concerning Prime Express you have to be aware that its a free lifetime license!

Its just that during the first 30 days the program acts as a full version and after that period it falls back to a limited version you still can use for basic tasks or to view worksheets made with the full version.

But you will lose advanced features and functions like programming, solve blocks, symbolics, etc.

This is different to the evaluation version of Mathcad 15 as this version will stop working completely after the trial period.

[VladimirN]

You can find PTC's software reseller in your local region here: https://www.ptc.com/en/partners/find-your-partner

[mfrench]

Thanks for the link.  I'm already working with EAC Product Development Solutions, one of the vendors on their list.  The good news is that the price for a 1 year student license is down to $50.  This is a great move by PTC.

The semester has started, so I'll know soon whether my students are having trouble buying Mathcad.  Hopefully, we're past most of the problems.  Funny that we don't have to go through this convoluted process to get MATLAB.

In other news, my university went to Windows 10 over the summer.   For some reason, Mathcad disappeared from all the computers in my classroom when that happened.  No more Mathcad in the classroom for me, I guess.  Too bad.

[Fred_Kohlhepp]

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@mfrench wrote:

  The good news is that the price for a 1 year student license is down to $50.  This is a great move by PTC.

The semester has started, so I'll know soon whether my students are having trouble buying Mathcad.  Hopefully, we're past most of the problems.  Funny that we don't have to go through this convoluted process to get MATLAB.

MATLAB used to be free to students.  That's why all the new engineers demanded MATLAB on their computers and didn't have a clue about Mathcad when I brought it up; a great marketing ploy that I could never get MathSoft to understand (let alone PTC.)  

In other news, my university went to Windows 10 over the summer.   For some reason, Mathcad disappeared from all the computers in my classroom when that happened.  No more Mathcad in the classroom for me, I guess.  Too bad.

---

Mathcad runs fine on Windows 10.  Maybe somebody at your school is trying to show you the future,  😉

[mfrench]

I suspect a license ran out and nobody wanted to pay to renew it, though I don't know for sure.  I'm running V15 on Windows 10 and haven't had a problem.

[mfrench]

Since people are still apparently reading this older post, perhaps an update would be helpful.  My direct dealings with PTC are still frustrating.  I generally get lost in the vortex of subscription numbers, customers numbers and sales order numbers.  PTC often doesn't understand that I bought a license for my two computers and usually mixes me up with other larger licenses at my university.  I have even had to send them the renewal confirmations they originally sent me when they didn't believe the ID numbers I gave them.

I still get all my licenses through Elizabeth Hall at EAC Product Development Solutions, a distributer for PTC.  She and the tech support guy, Blaine, are just great.  I recommend them to anyone looking for a stress-free way to get Mathcad Prime.  Her email is ehall@eacpds.com

Since my original post, PTC has decided not allow EAC (and, I assume, other vendors) to see information related to student and professor licenses.  It has made the license renewal process more difficult for me without any obvious benefit.

I have no idea why buying from PTC is like it is.  My best guess is that they mostly want to deal with large customers who will send them purchase orders for large numbers of licenses and large support contracts.  I feel like I'm an annoyance to them.  I don't know if that's what they intend, but I still dread having to deal with them directly.

As always, I love Mathcad, but wish I could buy it from someone else.

Mark

TLDR:  Mathcad Prime - Good.  PTC - Ugh