M020 release conditions 3

[philipoakley]

PTC have released details of the terms for getting M020 release which fixes the V14 print preview crash. It will only be available to those with a maintenance contract.

 

[jghrist]

So if you don't pay for a maintenance contract, you have to live with a program that crashes during a print preview? I think I'll stick with V13.

 

[philipoakley]

http://www.ptc.com/view?im_dbkey=70494

for full details.

 

[PNachtwey]

I makes no difference too me. I am voting with my wallet.
I am learning Maxima. Maxima is free and from what I have seen it is more capable at solving symbollic problems. I just have to get over the different look and feel.

http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=4933

PTC should follow microsoft's example where if you buy vista you get free bug fixes until they get it right. I can't fault PTC for asking money for each version release but they should make sure we get what paid for. I am strongly opposed to paying for bug fixes.

 

[pstuckey]

I would say this is the beginning of the end for Mathcad, but Mathcad 12 was really the beginning of the end. Perhaps this is the middle of the end

Peter

 

[4Pipes]

What a rip off. PTC have come up against the problem of all mature software - thinking of new features that will encourage the majority of users to upgrage.
However, billing them for bug fixes is the last reason. It is not just the rip-off factir that concerns me. It is an indication of a closed, cash-cow mind set - rather than open skies thinking of new ideas.
I've upgraded every other version from V1.1 I will not be doing so again for the type of nebulous benefits supplied with V14.

 

[pleitch]

Agreed.

Please be aware of a petition on another forum that PTC monitor:

http://collab.mathsoft.com/~Mathcad2000/read?111145,12

Also, it looks like Maple 12 is WYSIWYG now, and looks like a possible alternative. Maple provided symbolics for Mathcad upto version 13, so it is worth looking into.

 

[israelkk]

I have just upgraded to M020. It seams that till August 2008 you can download it without the need maintenance contract. Probably as a result of the complaints.

 

[IFRs]

israelkk - where did you see the download?

 

[israelkk]

You need to have legal copy and an account. I purchased Mathcad 14 M011 and when I installed it I was needed to open an account to be able to license it. Then I could get into Mathcad seb page.

When you are there select:
Support, Mathcad support center, Updated Mathcad 14.0 Maintenance Release Entitlement Notice.

Then click the word "here" in the last sentence of the first paragraph on the page "Single Users can access the download "HERE". Here is the link

http://www.ptc.com/appserver/wcms/standards/textoimgothumb.jsp?im_dbkey=71818&icg_dbkey=222

However, you probbaly can get there only after login.

 

[SSLA]

isrealkk:

Thanks for the link. It works but my log-in failed (I have downloaded here before) so I assume you still have to pay to get a realease that only fixes bugs. This is a RIP OFF. Mathcad deserves to fail in the market.

 

[israelkk]

I didn't have to pay I bought an upgrade package of Mathcad 14 on E-bay and after registration I logged on and downloaded M020. Check you login data. If you forgot your password, etc. call or e-mail PTC.

 

[SSLA]

I upgraded to M020 two weeks ago and have no service contract. Like others here I could not log in even though I had downloaded M011 from the same page months earlier. My account had been wiped out.

Solution: I created a new one (same email and password as before but any values should work) and downloaded M020 at no charge.

 

[4Pipes]

After earlier whinging, the link did work after I had problems with my account. Whether this was a change in policy or my mistake, is another matter. The bottom line is that I have the service patch and I am happy. Credit where credit is due to PTC. Many thanks to forum contributors for leading me to try the download again.

 

[marksummers]

Jeez, what a bummer. I just spoke with Ashish at PTC and learned that my upgrade purchase to MathCAD 14.0 last December came with a whole month's worth of support. I was also told that I could download build M020 if I buy a maintenance contract. No thanks PTC. This print preview crash defect should be fixed for users of the current version.

I smell a class action lawsuit....

 

[RobertoMiguel]

I just want to chime in, because the forum closed the previous anti-Mathcad/PTC post, the one regarding incompatibility between M'Cad 13 and the 64-bit Vista OS (Re: thread552-193152).

I'm a decades old Mathcad user that thought it was the best thing sinces sliced bread and now feel raped after spending my very own hundreds of dollars on the 13 release only to find out that it won't work on my recently upgraded laptop, a 4 GB RAM, 64-bit Vista laptop beast (believe it or not, it was less than $700, after sales tax, in Tenn no less!!).

That explains the hard sell from PTC, spamming me about getting the 14 release for yet another couple of hundred dollars (at last call). PTC is the devil, they deserve all the class action lawsuits that could possibly rain on them, and this from a laissez faire libertarian, don't get me wrong on that account. Half the pages I try to access on their website require some kind of service agreement.

Hey, I guess I should've stuck to ripping off my employer's copy. This is nothing but a classic case of "no good deed goes unpunished". I'll be a sonovagun if I'm going to give PTC another penny. My choices now are, (1) attempt to use Mathcad on my comatose Toshiba Satellite laptop (only wakes up when it feels like it), or (2) give my new HP Pavilion an enema and replace the Vista OS with XP. I'm not sure how the dual processor would respond to that, but it would sure be a foolish "fix" anyhow.


Roberto Sanabria

 

[zdas04]

The duo core processors came out a couple of years before Vista. I've been running this one under XP Pro for almost 3 years with no problems. I don't consider exorcising the bloated pig that is Vista and going back to a really stable operating system to be a "foolish fix". All of the "advances" in Vista were in areas that I could care less about (improved parental controls, better video editing, etc).

David

 

[Whiskeytown]

Out of luck here. Have MathCAD 14 (academic version) since the summer of 08 as required software for some courses I am taking. Suddenly it is crashing upon the "Print Preview Command". Learning from PTC that they were only fixing this bug (as described through the downloading instructions from israelkk above) through August 1, 2008. So I have to buy an additional copy of 14, hopefully a good one (one that works), in order to finish my coursework?

 

[IRstuff]

The other choice is to avoid using the print preview.

TTFN

FAQ731-376

 

[davidbeach]

Print to a PDF and use the PDF as your print preview.