I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
(OP)
Is it worth it?
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I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
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RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
The main bug-bear is the activation (similar to Windows XP) This essentially installs the 'spyware' (called SafeCast) on your computer.
The additional features, IMHO, are not worth the money. I upgraded and have now gone back to 2001i, mainly due to the activation issue. I really like Mathcad as an engineering tool but I will not be upgrading in future.
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
TTFN
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
For most general calculations, probably not
There are a bunch of bug fixes, added support for diffeq's, multiple undo's, but it's still basically the same program.
TTFN
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
There are a bunch of recalcitrants
TTFN
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
Download and run a free program called Spybot and see what that turns up!
It is unfortunate that software is starting down this route. I have no pirated software and as a professional engineer would never dream of using it. I would prefer a hardlock route to software protection.
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
STF
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
We had 5+ at my last place of work, it was much better than v4. I had a play with 2001, I liked the programming features, but hated the interface. I seemed to have to retype every equation (but I hadn't done the tutorial so it was probably my fault).
A combination of Mathcad and Excel with VBA solves all of my mathematical needs.
Cheers
Greg Locock
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
1] I have to explicitly save everything in 2000 format (because the rest of the section is still on 2000, and my budget doesn't stretch to upgrading them as well just because I need one more licence), and
2] mathconnex has vanished.
Seems I now have to by VisSim if I want mathconnex functionality - ie more $$$ for something I got for nix before. So the upgrade wasn't really, it was more a downgrade.
But I must confess I hadn't done anything too critical using mathconnex, and many of the features in v11 overcome some of the difficulties - sliders, buttons, and other such things are much more easily put directly into worksheets now.
Bung
Life is non-linear...
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
TTFN
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
Follows a copy of ltr. sent to Mathsoft's Allen Radzow, Senior Vice President of Products and Services, re: the subject of Product Activation, relating the bad experience that INTUIT had with its inclusion in their TurboTax product last year. It cost them a significant loss of revenue as people were not buying it and many of those that did, returned it, with complaint, for a $$$ refund They have removed from this year's product, and wrote a letter appology to their customers.
Consumer revolt that impacts the "bottom line" is still the most effective way to get the message across.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dear Allen,
The folks at Intuit were slow to learn that their users were extremely annoyed at the "Product Activation" technology imbedded in their TurboTax program last year. They were annoyed to the point of returning the product for full refund, vowing never to use the product again, and, filing a Class- Action lawsuit. The worst sin was....that it affected their "bottom line" sales numbers; which suffered a major decline from preceding years.
This same technology is employed in your current Mathcad product.
Perhaps you could profit and learn from other's mistakes and in so doing, re-examine the Mathsoft policy that places this abhorent technology in your products thus preventing me and other Mathsoft users from using their products both at home and at their offices.
You will find the article at the link below, including the mention of the fact that Tom Allanson, senior vice president of Intuit's consumer tax group, wrote an open letter of appology to TurboTax customers on Thursday.
http://www.pcworld.com/resource/printable/article/0,aid,112858,00.asp
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
TTFN
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
Just after I posted, I received a reply from Allen Radzow at Mathsoft.
Allen advises that they are indeed concerned about the "Product Activation" issue. He goes on to say that, "Mathsoft acknowledges the problems some users experience, and the deep distaste for activation felt by some users."
Their Product Management Organization is at this time gathering input and data on this in consideration of their next release.
This is a good time to make your voice heard if you find 'Product Activation' distasteful or an impediment to future consideration and purchase of their products.
Allen Radzow: aradzow@mathsoft.com
IRSTUFF:
As a software developer, I have a poignant appreciation for the software piracy problem... but "throwing the baby out with the bathwater"...so to speak, is not a viable solution.
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
It is a senseless activity. Ahaaaa how much I miss the good old days of true computer liberty...
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
It is stable and has no product activation. My workstation at work has uptimes of the order of weeks, usually limited by the company I work for which insists we re-boot after various updates.
Unfortunately Linux lacks an Office compatible spreadsheet, (yesterday I watched open office take 5 minutes to open a spreadsheet that consisted of 100 short columns added up, for the most part and then crash) and of course Mathcad is not available for Linux, and doesn't seem to work under WINE.
And I'm sure if you think back you will accept that modern PCs running modern OSs are MUCH more reliable than they were 10 years ago.
Cheers
Greg Locock
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
jOmega, thanks for the information regarding Mathsofts' position. It's very interesting and it restores my faith in them, they seem to be listening to their customers, unlike Micro$oft!
If the activation is removed from the next version, I will upgrade, if it is still included then I will stick with 2001i, it's as simple as that.
Regards
AJUK
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
Linux would give the best of both worlds since I can use it for only surfing and then use Windows only for running applications that demand it since Linux allows the installation of additional OS. The problem here is Microsoft's predatory tactics to protect their buggy and poorly finished OS ( DOS with all its limitations was a lot more stable than whatever Windows has ever been, but then, DOS was not a true Microsoft program, was somebody else's brain child). As far I have seen, Microsoft has failed miserably in delivering a true stable and secure OS platform, version after version (just think of the many "security flaws" we have come to witness).
By the way, has anybody given any thought of what would happen if any software manufacturer could have unauthorized access to the PC's Intel processor serial number without the PC owner knowing it? Would that be the type of copy protection that some software manufacturers are choosing to do linking their software to the processor's serial number ? I certainly wouldn't like to buy any software that has this type of protection if it exists. In a sense, at present I wouldn't buy any Mathsoft upgrade until they deal with this issue and give us a better product. I agree that the computer hardware lock is a good alternative albeit more expensive.
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
Incidentally, I was wrong, Mathcad v4 seems to run fine under WINE/KDE/Knoppix 3.2. It took perhaps 5 minutes to get going (I was bored waiting for it so didn't notice when it sprang to life) but once it did then it seemed to work fine, although I didn't stress it very much. Incidentally, unlike the screenshots on the WINE webpage, it renders properly. I am quite impressed.
Cheers
Greg Locock
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
It took me about 10 days to get my activation code sorted out, and two goes - I had to re-install as a result of some other computer trouble (usual helpdesk hit 'n hope style of fixing problems) so the original activation code didn't work on the second install. Not impressed - does this mean that an arbitrary change to my registry could make mathcad fall over?!
Bung
Life is non-linear...
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
One of my systems is running 98SE. Came with 256 Meg.
Last year it started bogging down.... got Out Of Memory messages, and lock-ups...
Monitored system resources and found that memory was getting used up ... 98SE is a memory hog.
Also noted that when apps closed, memory allocation wasn't being recalibrated.... so, as each new application was opened, memory consumption kept increasing....even though other apps were being closed.
Added another 256 Meg....and that brought me back to <50% consumption at the start... however... memory re-allocation wasn't happening when apps were closed.
Since discovered that Microsoft still hasn't fixed the problem of releasing memory when an application closes.
Supposed to be fixed in Win 2K... wasn't... supposed to be fixed in XP .... isn't.
Read an article about needing a memory manager to do the job that Microsoft should have done.
Now, no more problems.
Am running AMS's Fast DeFrag 2.0 Standard (freebie)
It actively defrags memory.
No more problems... and no problems whatsoever with 512 Meg on Win 98SE.
http://www.amsn.ro/
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
I had a memory manager (shareware) installed and things improved a bit but after the trial period ended things actually got worst, even after I uninstalled the memory manager. I will try your suggestion and see what happens.
Microsoft is notorious for not fixing bugs on subsequent versions of its software. I have seen the same problem with Excel (98 and 2000) where there is a range of cells that will not copy (either copy or move, I'm not sure which) correctly from other cell range. Same range on both versions. Apparently Microsoft only cares in bringing out "new" version after version of the same buggy software to keep the money flow coming without really caring if it is a good and quality product blaming the resulting consumer chaos on the "complexity" of the Windows platform. I' ve been a PC user since 1985 and have seen this happen over and over again to this platform (again, remember the security flaw fixes, fix after fix, problem continues).
By the way, have you noticed the strange back-off (it jumps from 96% back to 85 and the jumps to 96% again) that the scan bar makes when the blue screen disk scanner that comes with Win 98 nears the end of the hard disk scan? It happens to me after getting frequent messages from Windows 98 of impending freeze-ups due to "illegal program operations".
Mathsoft on the other hand has a terribly good software but sometimes has a very curious way of licensing its products to make the life of every user miserable. I have used most Mathcad versions right from 1.0 to 2000 ( mainly to calculate specific design problems in lieu of spreadsheets) and things keep getting worst with every new version that comes out. Improvements also are not always as intuitive as the original program was. Sometimes they get into a very complicated menu selection process specially when Mathcad interacts with external applications.
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
When was the last time you cleaned up your registry.
Also, you do know that it will be necessary to melt down and re-install about once a year.
Real Pain in the burro ... but it cleans up a lot of accumulated sins.
Keep your system/files backed-up ..
The proof of your words re: Microsoft - look at all the security patches.... almost daily ...
"Never enough time to do it right.... always enough time to do it over".... would seem to be their motto.
And is this their service policy :
"If our service isn't up to your standards, please lower your standards."
Go figure.
jO
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
Other than that I don't see much difference.
David
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
If you uninstall MathCad, it doesn't remove C-Dilla.
You are allowed to make 2 installations of MathCad from disc, and use the automatic registration (one for your desktop one for your laptop). If you replace either machine you need to contact your MathSoft dealer to get your reinstallation activated.
I have also been informed by a usually reliable source that C-Dilla inserts itself into such a high priveledge level that it bypasses your operating system safety features, then 'permanently' opens a port onto the Internet which bypasses any firewall protection that you have in place. I am not in a position where I can actually verify that this is so, perhaps someone with more know how could provide a definitive answer to this point.
Dave R.
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
TTFN
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
I'll stick with 2001i until this is removed from the software.
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
I was really concerned that the registration would mess me up because this is the second computer that I have Mathcad 11 installed on. Much to my surprise, everthing went well. The registration process worked with no hitches, and the program works fine.
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
I've got V11 installed on 3 machines; called them up and they gave me a 2nd installation code for the 3rd copy.
My C_Dilla folder shows 44kB, with 3 licenses installed, so anything larger than that is an installation problem with Safecast
TTFN
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
I have tried Mathcad 11 on two machines and both times the SafeCast is around 1.2mb, strange!
It is a shame that this issue is causing trouble with some users (well, me anyway) as Mathcad is such a fantastic and usefull software.
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
In addition I had to restore my hard drive to a previous configuration due to crashes in Autocad 2004 and now I have to contact Mathsoft in order to reinstall Mathcad 11. Haven't gotten around to it yet.
The only useful feature on 11 that I even noticed over 2001i was the ability to "bump" regions around and get them lined up easier. Stick with 2000 or 2001i
As far as activation goes I am sure that there are code breakers in the military or secret services of the countries that are notorious for piracy who can get around that and create copies that don't need activation anyway. We all know who they are.
Just my 2 cents,
DPA
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
Open Office has a pretty decent spreadsheet module, and it does read simple XLS sheets.
No idea how far the compatability extends, and for sure it won't have VBA...
regards
Jay
Jay Maechtlen
RE: I want upgrade to Mathcad 11 from Mathcad 2000
Given that VBA is a simple language (conceptually) it surprises me that they have not put a translator in, at least for the bits that can be understood. At present it just includes the entire VBA code commented out.
Exporting is actually rather more succesful than importing. I exported a large complex sheet and I think it needed one edit to run properly. The sad truth is that when I had done so I realised that it ran much faster in Excel, and Excel doesn't crash nearly as often.
Cheers
Greg Locock