I can see nothing on the website except a spreadsheet "like Excel" animated demo.
All other links on the page lead to the "please subscribe" page to create an account.
Aside from harvesting the e-mail addresses of engineers, I can't tell what's the point.
To get the engineering library you need to sign up for the "enterprise" version, which they don't give any pricing details for.
Other than that, it looks good. I thought the available documentation on-line was quite comprehensive, and as noted by IRStuff, there is a limited free version, that should be adequate for doing an assessment of whether it is worth the money.
The perpetual license is $950 which I'm OK with compared to an annual license mode - after a few years it's paid for, andi t's yours, and it's a deductable expense.
I'm interested in a perpetual license for laptop use. Is the program linked to the internet? If you guys get bought, get hit by a beer truck, etc will my software still work in 20 years?
And this was their answer:
With a perpetual license, the program will always run once it has been installed on a computer. We can provide a special installer that will work on future computers, on a case by case basis. The program does not require an internet connection (except for updates, specific cloud-based features, etc.).
Thanks for reaching out. Let me know if you have any more questions.
My day-to-day life depends on MathCad and Excel.
I have a license for MathCAD 15 which I've transferred from laptop to laptop.
I have to pay for Office every year to get Excel.
Mathcad is not being developed and I've not found Prime to be of my liking.
I can go to other spreadsheet programs that are not tied to annual fees but they are not quite as funcitonal.
I've tried SMath and a few others but none really grabbed me.
I'm curious about this BlockPad thing - it seems to combine MathCad (units!!) and Excel with a bit of Word thrown in.
So far, no one on this site says they even tried it.
If it is real and gets good grades here, I'll give it a whirl.
If it imported and converted MathCad and Excel files to something useful, I'd consider converting over slowly.
My reading of the perpetual licence was that there was still also an annual support/maintenance fee, but no indication of what this was in terms of cost or more importantly what you'd miss out on by not paying it.
My reading of the perpetual licence was that there was still also an annual support/maintenance fee, but no indication of what this was in terms of cost or more importantly what I'd miss out on by not paying it.
They responded (in 90 minumtes on the Saturday after Christmas) with this:
There is no mandatory maintenance fee with the perpetual license. You can always continue to use the software without paying for updates, etc.
Premium support is included for the first year. After that you can renew premium support or proceed with free-level support. Currently we offer ongoing updates and premium support for $99/year.
So, I read this as it's yours and it works but if you want updates it costs $99 per year after the first year.
I'm not pushing this software or anything like that, but I'll relay what I get from them, in case anyone is interested or cares.
I asked tis:
Are you considering importing Mathcad or Excel files?
I tried copy/past from Excel to Blockpad and it just copied results, not formulae.
They responded (in about 90 minutes) with:
Thanks for sharing your experience so far. Blockpad currently supports opening xmcd and mcdx Mathcad files. If there are any files that don't quite open 100%, we're happy to help, as we are working on refining that feature. Opening Excel files (and better copy paste) is in development and envisioned for around late January or early February.
The spreadsheet seems to be only partially functional; I can maneuver down to at least A7059, by down arrow, but the display won't go below row 6601, and I can't seem to maneuver using the PG-DN key. Nevertheless, being able to use units in a spreadsheet seems like a plus, but too many things to overcome, still.
TTFN (ta ta for now)
I can do absolutely anything. I'm an expert!
From the Web site, Block Pad looks quite promising, especially for people who prefer to work in Mathcad.
You can do much the same in Excel with a bit of VBA of course.
I have added to my Units4Excel spreadsheet the option to return the function with symbols replaced by values with units:
I'm checking it out, and asking questions.
It does seem (cautiously) promising.
I like the combination of MathCad type visuals and units plus Excel plus Word and am looking for the limitations of each.
I'm learning the structure and options, slowly.
It does not import from MathCad cleanly but it does get much or most of it so far, for very simple worksheets.
Eventually I realized that they have youtube demo videos (like any other software). That's worth watching if you want a quick tour.
It isn't sophisticated enough to win me over, yet, but I'm glad to see another contender in the field.
