Differences between Maxima and Macsyma and GPL vs. commercial version
Subject: Differences between Maxima and Macsyma and GPL vs. commercial version
From: J. Milgram
Date: Tue, 01 Apr 2003 10:37:02 -0500
[sorry if I'm out of sync on these comments; am catching up on email]
> > (2) If Macsyma/Maxima is/was the oldest and greatest,
> > then how come Mathematica gets all the press and attention?
>
> 1. Very good marketing by Stephen Wolfram. (Boy genius revolutionizes
> mathematics, says physicists and NY Times reporter)
> 2. Slick design of front end.
> 3. Timing.
I'd add: (4) a very high quality user's manual. Something for us to take
notice of.
> > Depending on how you answer (1), I believe we have a serious
> > open source product here that should get more attention.
> >
> > We don't want youngsters like me naively thinking Mathematica
> > is the one and only choice for symbolic stuff anymore.
I used Macsyma as an undergrad "because it was there".
As a grad, I used Mathematica "because it was there".
Probably nothing would serve Maxima advocacy as well as encouraging
general use on campus.
Judah