Challanger to Mathcad - Messages

Please, come back soon and I will be glad to present the new release. This version (internal build for now) will have several key changes, like 3 built-in interpolation methods, interesting set of examples included in Setup (such as solving systems of equations, Runge-Kutta method and so on), important improving of multi-language abilities of the SMath Studio documents, indexed variables, many fixes and optimizations in the source code, full multi-threading, interface improvements.
Hope to finish new version till September starts. Units will be the next task for that next month... as planned

Best regards, Andrey Ivashov.
I am stuck. Not leaving any time soon. My small contribution is on the way as saying thanks.
SM
Wrote>>Please, come back soon<<
I am stuck. Not leaving any time soon. My small contribution is on the way as saying thanks.
SM
Hello SM,
I am a Mathcad "old-timer" as you. Andrey is making a good job here. I've discovered SMath two months ago, and was really got "hooked". In rather short period of time he made a great progress in SMath. I suppose there will be a new, quite improved, release in few days now.
Regards,
Radovan
I just discovered this site yesterday (I think you already know how). Let's support him in whatever ways we can. Spread the word. He is doing a great job. Forget the fact that this is one man's crusade; this is a serious challenge to big timer.
SM
Regards,
Radovan
WroteAmazing program. I am a Mathcad user for more than 25 years. This is the first program that I see can give serious challenge to Mathcad. Just get the units incorporated. The rest can come later. Wonderful.
Yes, it is. Let me consider its advantages and disadvantages as a software product (I am speaking here not as a user, but as marketer).
Advantages mostly are the following:
- It is industrial quality product with tuned GUI and just minor bugs;
- It is free, you need not to pay for it;
- It can be used as for smartphones as for desktop PC;
- It is compatible (not completely, but it does not very important in this case) with its main competitor and inspirer - MathCAD;
- and many others ...
There is only one disadvatage - it is not new; most of the features and even the main idea were just copied from MathCAD. SMath need to invent a "new idea" to become a commercial product. In other case, SMath will stay free forever (MathCAD can easily beat you, reducing its price to corresponding "student" edition).
What I am going to say, that SMath should start its investigations to be different. It should be possible suggest something amazing, not just lower prices (in the coming future).
Best regards,
Alexey
WroteHello SM
WroteAmazing program. I am a Mathcad user for more than 25 years. This is the first program that I see can give serious challenge to Mathcad. Just get the units incorporated. The rest can come later. Wonderful.
There is only one disadvantage - it is not new; most of the features and even the main idea were just copied from MathCAD. SMath need to invent a "new idea" to become a commercial product. In other case, SMath will stay free forever (MathCAD can easily beat you, reducing its price to corresponding "student" edition).
What I am going to say, that SMath should start its investigations to be different. It should be possible suggest something amazing, not just lower prices (in the coming future).
I have to disagree with you concerning the SMath disadvantage. Something "new" or "amazing" is not the point. There is no need for that. Andrey pointed out few times that his intention is to make SMath like a "front end" with the functionality similar to Mathcad. The main advantage of this concept is that SMath could be "open" to users or third party software. Just look at the most popular commercial math software. They are all "old fashioned - command line" oriented in general. Why are they so popular? Because they are rather extensible and the authors listen to their users.
Mathcad has always been "closed" and no any "student" or "low price" edition could fix that. There is no easy way to extend Mathcad for an ordinary user. You can not make any "packages", "function libraries" or "toolboxes" in an acceptable way. Although, there is a concept of "HANDBOOKS" but this is not a satisfactory way in the meaning of extension. Handbooks are free or commercial. There are rather few free Handbooks which incorporate new user made functions because it is not so easy to make them.
To make long story short, Mathcad users wanted some new functionality for years but Mathcad have never fulfilled their expectations. The main usage remains the same as 20 years ago. I hope that SMath will change this, at least a part of that.
Regards,
Radovan
I'd given up looking, and found Smath yesterday. Congratulations, I'm still getting used to the interface, but all the basics are there. I shall be using this quite a lot, and look forward to the program developing, and to more & more worksheets being published. I'll dig up some of my more general MathCad worksheets, and see if I can modify them, if they're suitable for publishing.
As a suggestion, some image display capability would be really good in Smath.
Keep up the good work!
Mick
I also remember the version Mathcad v1.5. I think I even have it also on an old floppy (coverred with dust).
WroteAs a suggestion, some image display capability would be really good in Smath.
Please look at this post about Inserting pictures. If you need some more help you can visit SMath Wiki (nice tutorials and examples), or contribute to it with your comments or your SMath examples.
Regards,
Radovan
It was really long time ago

Regards,
Radovan
Quotehere is only one disadvatage - it is not new; most of the features and even the main idea were just copied from MathCAD. SMath need to invent a "new idea" to become a commercial product.
I disagree.
Mathcad had for my use become bloated and over complicated of me. Avast array of functions I pay circa £600 to never use.
I personally just want to replace engineering hand calcs but done on a computer. To me that is the beauty of this program. I think units should be implemented though.
Also I discovered that graphing in Mathcad, while having more formatting features, is much more complicated than SMath. So I agree that the beauty of the program is its simplicity and compactness, and units (subscripts as well) would be nice to have, otherwise keep everything just like it is!
WroteHello Alexey,
I have to disagree with you concerning the SMath disadvantage ... The main advantage of SMath concept is that SMath could be "open" to users or third party software ...
So, if the main intention of SMath was to be extendable, why SMath is still closed? Why SMath hides such benefits from its potential users? Why, the feature which were recognized as the primary reason for SMath invention was simple forget? From the marketing viewpoint, SMath developers should deliver such "differences" first, to make a strong distinction between the existing and old, in his ignorance, MathCAD and the new bright solution - SMath. I would assure SMath developers, that in this case, their users will gladly forget about missed MathCAD features (like "units", for example), they would not even dare to compare it with such ancient and clumsy application as MathCAD, they will recognize and appreciate SMath for its own non-MathCAD features, they will even like it because of its incompatibility, because it is not the same (remember Apple with his Mighty mouse)!
"To make long story short", SMath developers are making the very first mistake from the product promotion point of view - they are focused on the reproducing of the features that are already exist on the market instead of pushing on their own innovations.
Dear SMath developers, I sincerely wish you become the best. So, do not smash yourself because of your ignorance in marketing, do not be so clumsy as MathCAD is. It will be really sorry if this project will fail just because it was so technically perfect that allowed himself forget about simple marketing rules. I do not like to be a Nostradamus, but if SMath will not change their strategy, the better what they will get - be bought by MathCAD Inc (hate it ... :censored

I did not quite get your point, sorry.
Considering the SMath as being "closed" I do not mind having a "core" SMath on one side and "plugins" on the other. Plugins can be made by anyone who is willing to, and could be shared with the rest of us. Andrey will make a tutorial these days about that. It looks to me as a project like "Lego bricks". I do not see any bad side about it.
If you look at the recent v0.87 you can see that even now SMath is quite different from Mathcad, considering that the version number is even far from v1.0.
The main problem, as I see it, is that SMath has very few developers and it heavely depends on their spare time.
Regards,
Radovan
WroteHello Alexey, I did not quite get your point, sorry.
Hello Radovan,
The main point is that I am not scolding SMath at all and SMath need not to be defensed in front of me (I am a supporter of SMath, might be more efficient then anyone, by criticizing it). I just see the regretful mistakes from marketing viewpoint and like SMath guys to understand the main rules to attract the people. Just reflect, that most of the forum participants look at SMath as a future substitution of MathCAD (might be more powerful, might be more open and customizable, but the key message is the same - substitution). And this is where from my objections come, substitution strategy is no longer works in the modern world.
I perfectly understand, that, as a user, you need not no more; just the same staff with some additional features and improvements. But SMath developers should think further (it is their responsibility)! To be successful, they should be ahead of users, they should invent something that users do not expect, they should introduce new demands (as the chocolate at the Middle Ages). Just recall appearance of MathCAD 20 years ago, why it was so popular, why it get almost immediate success on the market? Answere is very simple - because it was different!!!
This is just my opinion. What I could really do for SMath, it is organize some kind of brainstorming, perform a marketing analysis for them (we could do it at the forum as well; they are welcome) ...
WroteConsidering the SMath as being "closed" I do not mind having a "core" SMath on one side and "plugins" on the other. Plugins can be made by anyone who is willing to, and could be shared with the rest of us. Andrey will make a tutorial these days about that. It looks to me as a project like "Lego bricks".
Sorry, but this feature already exist in MathCAD, users could write plugins by their own (so, it is also - not new)
WroteTo be successful, they should be ahead of users, they should invent something that users do not expect, they should introduce new demands (as the chocolate at the Middle Ages). Just recall appearance of MathCAD 20 years ago, why it was so popular, why it get almost immediate success on the market? Answere is very simple - because it was different!!!
As an engineer, I started using SMath because it provided a specific functionality that was extremely useful to my job: namely, the ability to clearly document and easily reuse engineering calculations. This is what I wanted, therefore, Smath was the right tool for the right job. Alot of marketing these days seems to be convincing people to buy something they really don't need, or making them pay alot of money for 1,000 features they don't need, so that they can get the one feature they really need. Thus, when I was looking for a solution to fit my needs, I was not looking for something "different" than MathCad. I would not pick out a hammer from my toolbox when I really need a wrench.
That being said, if the developers of SMath do intend to market their work, they should definitely seek to differentiate themselves from the competition. But this is marketing, and there is a big difference between getting someone to buy your product and having satisfied customers who will recommend your product to others because the product was truly useful for solving their problems.
If the developers of Smath do create new functionality not present in Mathcad, they must do so in such a way as to not sacrifice the central functionality of the program: to produce easy, reusable, and readable documentation of calculations. Improvements geared toward this end will produce truly satisfied customers (i.e. units, literal subscripts, etc.). This is what will make SMath the right tool for the right job.
My two bits,
Will
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