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MathCAD went to shit in about 2000. I had been using it for 10 years then (started in DOS). They made some annoying UI changes and really increased the cost.

MathCAD went to shit in about 2000. I had been using it for 10 years then (started in DOS). They made some annoying UI changes and really increased the cost. The kicker was when they called me and accused me of using a fake license, when I had dutifully been paying support for both a home and work license. I got fed up and went to Mathematica. MathCAD was later bought by PTC, and further went to shit. It amuses me how some companies can self destruct.

gaius 9y ago
MathCAD went to shit in about 2000 That would be a couple of years after I last used it. What a shame, at least I have those memories. Really loved how low-friction working with it was, and how trivial it was to generate high quality documents or reports, there was no "write it up" stage, you were done basically as soon as you had done the actual work. Then just print and go! Still can't really do that with Jupyter.
- madengr 9y ago
  Yes, it was a good run. Now I remember specifically: Started using the DOS version in 1990 in college. Bought version 3.1 in ~1992, Windows version running it under OS/2. Could afford to buy it then, even as a student. Ah, OS/2 was also good. It was < $100 for each version upgrade until 2000, when they switched to maintenance based licensing, soon bumping the price to $495. I had a home license which I dropped. I still had a work license, but then some sales twerp said I was using a pirated license at work, and wanted to speak to my IT department. This is a >100k employee company, so serious consequences for software piracy. I faxed them my valid license certificate, and told them to stuff it, dropping my renewal, and buying Mathematica. Now I see it's Mathcad Prime, a subscription based license, for $800 year. They were purchsed by PTC several years ago, which only made things worse. This is textbook case of screwing over your user base, cha$ing corporate accounts. I don't know anyone who uses it now. Many people used it back in the day. Sad thing is I don't even use Mathematica much. Too painfull most of the time. I don't like the interface, but it's better than browser based Jupyter. Just forget trying to install Jupyter and dependancies on a corporate managed Windows computer. I just use papaer and calculator. I swear things have regressed from 20 years ago. At least I can still buy a new RPN calculator.
  - FractalLP 9y ago
    Yea. Using Mathematica is much easier to do than Jupyter as my IT department just has to purchase. Sadly, I have a lot of data, so using a calculator (even programmable RPN)is out of the question. Even Excel is too small foe some things.

gaius 9y ago

MathCAD went to shit in about 2000 That would be a couple of years after I last used it. What a shame, at least I have those memories. Really loved how low-friction working with it was, and how trivial it was to generate high quality documents or reports, there was no "write it up" stage, you were done basically as soon as you had done the actual work. Then just print and go! Still can't really do that with Jupyter.

madengr 9y ago
Yes, it was a good run. Now I remember specifically: Started using the DOS version in 1990 in college. Bought version 3.1 in ~1992, Windows version running it under OS/2. Could afford to buy it then, even as a student. Ah, OS/2 was also good. It was < $100 for each version upgrade until 2000, when they switched to maintenance based licensing, soon bumping the price to $495. I had a home license which I dropped. I still had a work license, but then some sales twerp said I was using a pirated license at work, and wanted to speak to my IT department. This is a >100k employee company, so serious consequences for software piracy. I faxed them my valid license certificate, and told them to stuff it, dropping my renewal, and buying Mathematica. Now I see it's Mathcad Prime, a subscription based license, for $800 year. They were purchsed by PTC several years ago, which only made things worse. This is textbook case of screwing over your user base, cha$ing corporate accounts. I don't know anyone who uses it now. Many people used it back in the day. Sad thing is I don't even use Mathematica much. Too painfull most of the time. I don't like the interface, but it's better than browser based Jupyter. Just forget trying to install Jupyter and dependancies on a corporate managed Windows computer. I just use papaer and calculator. I swear things have regressed from 20 years ago. At least I can still buy a new RPN calculator.
- FractalLP 9y ago
  Yea. Using Mathematica is much easier to do than Jupyter as my IT department just has to purchase. Sadly, I have a lot of data, so using a calculator (even programmable RPN)is out of the question. Even Excel is too small foe some things.