Yes, I am pessimistic regarding the future of DERIVE.
TI certainly has credentials in math education. Their main concern are
calculators. In this market niche they are reasonably successful. The buyout
of Softwarehouse could be interpreted as an protection of their investment
in the the TI-92 line of calculators. They prevented some other competitor
to get their hands on the code of DERIVE (and maybe try to market a
different and possibly more technically innovative calculator product).
TI is at the moment not a significant software producer for PC class
software. Although they might try a foray in this field they are not well
positioned for this purpose. This does not bode well for the future of
DERIVE.
Universities as institutions usually prefer Maple or Mathematica because
most of the academic staff uses these programs for research and are familiar
with them. Since the programs are already installed, the university's
administration doesn't mind using these expensive programs for teaching.
Mathematica gives students a time limited licence at a discount which solves
the hardship of having a student buy a 1500 US$ program.
DERIVE filled a market niche as a reasonably priced CAS for a variety of
users (at a level below solving huge systems of differential equations and
giant
matrices or trying to automate proofs of advanced theorems). The program is
much better for teaching and studying mathematics because it allows the
student to focus on mathematics and not on playing around with a bloated
software program that could become an end in itself.
Business users tend to prefer the simplest and most economical tool for
their purpose. There are lot of tasks in applied mathematics that can be
successfully solved with a tool like DERIVE. Since CAS will sooner or later
replace slow calculators with abominable displays there is a market niche
out there. Compact programs like DERIVE could run on Windows CE class
devices which will develop into useful all-purpose machines in the near
future (at the moment they are not really there although the Cassiopeia is
close to being a useful device).
The only comparable product to DERIVE on the market is MUPAD. Mupad Pro is
sold by Sciface for around US$ 300 and is said to be a capable program. It
has been developed by researchers of Paderborn University in Germany. To my
knowledge it has not been widely adopted in the English speaking world (and
not even in Europe). I have the impression that this could change in the
future. Mupad is already known widely in the mathematical community on both
sides of the Atlantic.
This takes us back to the future of DERIVE. As CAS gain wider acceptance
with users who have a need for some mathematics and CAS capabilities, they
should be sold by known players on the software market. This will ensure
that they get better user interfaces. They could for instance be integrated
in spread-sheet programs and sold in tandem with these programs in
"professional versions". At least the considerable graphic capabilities of
spread-sheet programs could thus be used and don't have to be duplicated. I
think that even more integration is possible.
TI will probably not be able to transform DERIVE into a popular CAS for
users inthe academic community and more important in the future - to
sophisticated users outside the academia.
----- Original Message -----
From: Terence Etchells <[log in to unmask]>
To: Derive-News <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 10:09 PM
Subject: The TI buyout of Soft Wharehouse
> Hello Everyone,
>
> I am interested in list members views on this recent event. If you do not
> wish to email the list then email me directly. Please email even if you
> unconcerned (just hit the reply (not reply to all) and send button).
>
> Cheers
>
> Terence
>
> Terence Etchells B.Sc., M.Sc., C.Math, MIMA
> School of Computing and Mathematical Sciences
> Liverpool John Moores University
> Liverpool L3 3AF UK
> http://www.cms.livjm.ac.uk/etchells
> Tel: 0151 231 2172
>
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