More importantly, will PRIME read old file formats without completely rewriting them, such as Mathcad 11 and Mathcad 13 files.
I have built up a pretty impressive library of good past work that even Mathcad 13 won't play with nicely anymore. For example, somewhere along the way they changed the way vectors work. w[m, where the [ makes m a subscript vector, is in many of my files, and 13 doesn't know what it means.
MCPrime is not particularly compatible with older versions; which is one of the reasons that it must be compatible with a concurrent installation of MC15.
However, note that MCPrime is intended for NEW users, because it does not yet have the full suite of MC capabilities, although it supposedly has some features not currently found on MC15. The expectation is that MCPrime version 2 or 3 will have a complete MC feature set.
MathCAD Prime will read MathCAD v15 files, and v15 files only. You first have to convert ALL of your documents to v15 and then you can convert them to Prime. That's why PTC is allowing v15 and Prime to coexist on the same machine. I'm still trying to figure out the flex licensing, though. I haven't tested if we need both license files running or if v15 will run using a Prime license.
And, as IRstuff mentioned, Prime does not yet have all the functionality of v15. Depending on how complex your sheets are and what functions you use, you may want to stay on your current version of MathCAD and skip Prime v1.
I expect that each program would have its own license file.
Since MCPrime is not expected attain MC15's full functionality for at least 1 major release, it's likely that MC15 would upgrade to MC16 and possibly MC17 before it's discontinued. That said, there are still plenty of people still using MC11 ;-) Note that even though MC11 is almost 10 years old, PTC is still supporting license file generation for that product.
I frankly don't like prime. The "user experience" is worse that old matchcads, and symbolic calculation is for now entirely left out. PTC must do better if it wants to sell many upgrades.
MC Prime is not an "upgrade," Rather, it's more like MC12, which was a major revamp of the program. However, MC12 only revamped the file format and some basic functionality such as static unit checking (SUC), while MC Prime is a major revamping of both functionality and user interface.
As discussed in the PTC Mathcad user forums, MC Prime will probably not achieve full functional equivalence to MC14/15 until version 2 or 3.
Two substantial functional changes that I recall:
> Plots, while limited to 2D, have been completely revised
> Given-Find solve block structures have been completely revised
I need to figure out if it will be less expensive to buy now, learn it on the side on my own time, don't convert or depend on it until V2 or V3, follow and pay for the upgrades incrementally rather than get nailed with a huge cost in $$ and time in a year or two. Any thoughts? I'm assuming that at some point I'm going to have to switch over because they will discontinue MC and only develop Prime.
I don't think that the learning curve is anywhere as steep as one might think. The basic structure of a WSIWYG scratchpad for math calculations that is the hallmark of Mathcad is still there. The biggest hurdle is the annoying Windows7 ribbon that they felt forced to switch to. But, I'm a bit of a laggard, since I still prefer M11 to anything more recent.
Anyways, for simple calculations, there would be complete transparency with MC Prime, i.e., open a worksheet, and type in a calculation as always. Units support, substitutions, etc. are the same.
My experience of Prime has been an anti climax to say the least. I was hoping for great things given the gestation period.
a) It made a complete mess of the formatting of an MC15 file I imported. I assume because prime has its own default margins. You cannot import and go. It took quite a lot of effort to tidy up a pretty basic 7 page MC15 file.
b) The green guide bars seem to have disappeared. Tabing around is not the same and is much slower than MC15.
c) The ribbon bars are a complete waste of screen space, especially for anybody using a laptop.
I could go on but its is too frustrating. None of the old MC querks have been fixed. Ok, there is a grid but not much else. The MS Word / Excel type split screen to allow modification of data at the start of the calc to be viewed at the same time as results at the end has not been added.
I will be staying with MC15.
Maybe so, but what are are experienced users paying for. We have had several years paying for very little new development under Mathsoft. Not much of practical benefit to every day users has been added since PTC took over. Even you say you prefer v11. (I could not disagree). If the intent is that experienced users should carry on using MC then it would appear that Prime will of no benefit for another two years until it catches up.
I said, MC Prime [red]v1[/red] is not intended for experienced users. PTC is intent on migrating all of MC's current functionality to MC Prime. At some point in the next few years, MC Prime will most likely take over from the current MC line.
PTC is obviously aware of the limitations and lackings in MC Prime, as indicated in their comparison charts of MC Prime and MC15. However, since they are both addressing the same market, one must eventually cease and the other continue on; it's just not going to happen for a couple of years.
I'm assuming that MC15's days are numbered, simply because its legacy code apparently is too difficult to modify, as exemplified by lack of progress in the the plotting and graphing areas.
