15
$\begingroup$

Does anyone understand the Mathematica upgrade treadmill these days? With the minor releases (10.2, 10.3) coming out fairly quickly and the upgrade price associated with each, I have no idea what my upgrade strategy should be. Anyone have an upgrade strategy that treats you well, and that you're willing to share?

I used to wait for 8.0.1, 9.0.1, 10.0.1 and then enthusiastically pay to upgrade, but under the new release cadence, my "approach" is to sit here lustily eying up the release notes for each minor release, but otherwise paralyzed-from-upgrading, which surely isn't the intended effect. I almost wonder if WRI is trying to shock us into the new-ish Annual Subscription model.

I'm a home user with no institution, so I am, for better or worse, on my own to cover the cost.

Improve this question
$\endgroup$
5
  • 3
    $\begingroup$ My preference (since 2.2) has been for a premier subscription and have updates when and if they're ready. YMMV. $\endgroup$
    – dwa
    Oct 21, 2015 at 5:51
  • 2
    $\begingroup$ FWIW: I don't agree with the closure... $\endgroup$
    – J. M.'s eventual burnout ♦
    Oct 21, 2015 at 12:28
  • 8
    $\begingroup$ I don't agree to close this either. I had really hoped for answers that are based on experience of e.g. professional Mathematica consultants that need to make a life with the software. For them a full licence costs over 3000 Euro, so the upgrading strategy might be a decision that indeed can influence the wealth of your company. I'm voting to re-open it. $\endgroup$
    – halirutan ♦
    Oct 21, 2015 at 14:32
  • $\begingroup$ Does your institution have a site licence? $\endgroup$
    – egwene sedai
    Oct 21, 2015 at 16:03
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ @egwenesedai I'm a home user with no institution, so I am, for better or worse, on my own to cover the cost. $\endgroup$
    – sblom
    Oct 21, 2015 at 17:24

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
5
$\begingroup$

When you are 84 years old and like to work on some particular problems, then version 10.0.0 is ok, but version 9 is even better. When 10.0.1 comes out to fix bugs in 10.0.0 and one has to pay more, then this is rather insulting. Fixing mistakes should be free; if you really have new features, then call it version 11.

Besides I like the colors of graphs better in 9 but can work in 10 with added conditions in the Plot3D function.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$
2
  • $\begingroup$ There's always SetOptions[] that you can put in init.m if you want "classic-looking" defaults. $\endgroup$
    – J. M.'s eventual burnout ♦
    Oct 27, 2015 at 21:05
  • 1
    $\begingroup$ You don't have to pay more for 10.0.1 if you had 10.0.0. Releases that focus on fixing problems are free if you had the previous version. In other words, even users without Premier Service can get 10.0.1 and 10.0.2 if they owned 10.0.0. Releases that focused on new features are not always free. So 10.1 had more new features, and was therefore not free if you didn't have free Service even if you had 10.0.X. Basically, 3rd digit change is free, 2nd or 1st is not. $\endgroup$
    – KAI
    Oct 27, 2015 at 21:08
2
$\begingroup$

I have a premier subscription and always upgrade for a major release, e.g. 9 to 10 or 10 to 11. I won't apply a minor release update unless it has a new feature I want to use or fixes a bug that I've encountered.

Improve this answer
$\endgroup$

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.