SMath studio no longer free for commercial use
3

Question

SMath studio no longer free for commercial use

wth (Structural)

(OP)

12 Sep 23 20:11

Posted today: https://en.smath.com/forum/yaf_postst23660_11-09-2...
The main changes are:
- Free version of SMath Studio has a few limitations from now on - please see https://smath.com/en-US/view/SMathStudio/pricing. Main program functionality is not affected at all. We are only talking about watermarks on print out, limitations in using program via command line and some plug-ins created by employees of SMath LLC made not available for free.
- The only license for organizations now is Unlimited, we propose several business specific options like floating licenses and licensing server installed on the organization's local network.

I'm not sure what to do whit this, the cheapest ultimate package is priced at 564 USD/year, thats roughly the same we paid for Mathcad Prime before we decieded it wasn't worth it and switched to SMath. Floting licence is 840 USD/year.
For that price range, we can just as well return to Mathcad, or go back to doing everything in Excel (making quality controls much harder).
There's also the issue of SMath beeing a russian software, even if they've found a way to process payments to Israel - it's problematic.

I've seen various other alternatives floating around, but they all seem to be just to 'advanced' to implement in my team. Like python notebooks, etc.
Does anyone have a working alternative, that is easy enough to both use and share without deep knowledge of the software?

FEA way (Mechanical) · Answer 1 · 2023-09-12 21:20:12

Check Calcpad, it’s a nice alternative to SMath even if it doesn’t have that intuitive MathCAD-like style.

dik (Structural) · Answer 2 · 2023-09-12 23:48:46

It looks like the guys from MathCAD and RISA bought them out...

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

Just Some Nerd (Structural) · Answer 3 · 2023-09-13 00:00:25

So uh...guess I won't be updating to any newer versions?

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Why yes, I do in fact have no idea what I'm talking about

wth (Structural) · Answer 4 · 2023-09-13 00:32:52

Calcpad looks nice, and it's probably faster than SMath for input. I just worry that the code like input will stop some people from testing it.

Just Some Nerd:
I didn't update it I think, but I had the free version with an account. The watermark showed up today. If you haven't updated since they forced accounts you might be fine.

3DDave (Aerospace) · Answer 5 · 2023-09-13 01:32:52

It was originally released under Creative Commons license so the old versions should remain freely distributable.

dik (Structural) · Answer 6 · 2023-09-13 05:07:59

Is that SMath that was originally released? I have hundred of programs written using it. They are for my own use, except I share them often. Regarding a recent composite design problem I posted here, I sent my client a copy of the composite design summary sheet for projects I've done for him in the last 3 years...

-----*****-----
So strange to see the singularity approaching while the entire planet is rapidly turning into a hellscape. -John Coates

-Dik

wth (Structural) · Answer 7 · 2023-09-13 06:10:52

Post #3 here, https://en.smath.com/forum/yaf_postst21719_Is-SMat..., states that:
The currently available stable version (0.99.7822) and all previous ones still can be used for commercial purposes for free as they have the previous version of license agreement built-in. But the next stable release of SMath Studio will have an updated EULA: https://en.smath.com/view/SMathStudio/license

https://smath.com/en-US/view/SMathStudio/download/...

@Dik: Yes, Smath Studio.

MintJulep (Mechanical) · Answer 8 · 2023-09-13 07:44:06

Quote (wth)
There's also the issue of SMath beeing a russian software, even if they've found a way to process payments to Israel - it's problematic.

Was it not problematic when it was free?

wth (Structural) · Answer 9 · 2023-09-13 08:54:26

Quote (MintJulep)
Was it not problematic when it was free?

Of course it is, but sending money to Russia complicates it further. And that's something I'll personally won't do at this time, even if it was deemed legal through Isreal.
It's also a political discussion better suited for other threads and forums.

For anyone else currently on version 0.99.7822+, you can install the newest version and copy/paste the content to the old one. Probably won't work with some plugins, but works fine with a "vanilla" spreadsheet.

Sparweb (Aerospace) · Answer 10 · 2023-09-13 20:52:06

Thank you for letting me know about this. We use it extensively at the office. Licensing fees to Russia - yeah that's problematic as you say.

NedGan76 (Structural) · Answer 11 · 2023-09-15 18:35:31

Calcpad will always be free for both commercial and non-commercial use. It is open-source and everyone can download the source code from GitHub and build it by himself:

https://github.com/Proektsoftbg/Calcpad

It will continue to improve further and new features will be added. Actually, the project is supported by donations and by selling structural design worksheets we make by using Calcpad. So everyone is welcomed and free to use it for whatever he/she needs without limitations.

wth (Structural) · Answer 12 · 2023-09-15 20:20:39

Calcpad looks really nice, I'll try it for my next calculation. I especially liked how you can separate input values for general spreadsheets.

And just as a warning for other SMath users, as far as I can tell, you can't install plugins for older free-to-use version. Don't know if it's a temporary bug or permanent, but if you open a file created with plugins you don't have, or try opening the online library it will force close in 2-3 seconds..

Sparweb (Aerospace) · Answer 13 · 2023-09-16 04:18:16

Those of us who already have the plugins can copy them to the other (new) user who doesn't have them yet, rather than going through the download/update process.

skeletron (Structural) · Answer 14 · 2023-10-02 05:23:07

Strange. I noticed sometime in the last month that the prompt to update SMath upon startup, stopped popping up...After reading this thread, it makes sense.

I like the software and like that it is free. Still using 0.99.7822.

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SMath studio no longer free for commercial use
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