Fred Kohlhepp wrote:
Surely developing an automated convertor would have been a better option than integration with Creo.
Not if the original reason for purchasing Mathcad was to enhance Creo.
Yes, and I remember that way back when PTC bought Mathcad in 2006 or 2007 and no program development was noticeable, rumour had it that this will be the end of Mathcad as a standalone product and the sole reason for the purchase was the integration in Pro-E, later Creo.
PTC of course disclaimed and when they published their first roadmap for Prime it really looks that they intended to further enhance and refine Mathcad. MC15 tie was projected with Prime3 and full Creo integration was rather late on the agenda.
Meanwhile PTC seems to have realised that they have underestimated the complexity of the task and that an adequate development of Mathcad is not possible with the ressources they where willing to invest in the past.
So the options are keeping the low level of Prime and making it a super calculator for Creo or increase the budget for Mathcad development significantly. If the info about Prime3.1 is a hint, it looks like PTC management had come to the conclusion that option 1 is more profitable and its quite clear what this means for long term Mathcad users.