Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!comp.vuw.ac.nz!waikato.ac.nz!phil
From: phil@waikato.ac.nz (Phil Etheridge)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.apps
Subject: Re: MathType
Message-ID: <1991Jun19.094751.4010@waikato.ac.nz>
Date: 18 Jun 91 21:47:51 GMT
References: <1991Jun13.193404.10293@news.nd.edu> <7748@mace.cc.purdue.edu> <15483@ccncsu.ColoState.EDU> <1991Jun14.084802.5478@vax5.cit.cornell.edu>
Distribution: na,comp
Organization: University of Waikato, New Zealand
Lines: 35

Jeffrey Chen writes:
> In article <7748@mace.cc.purdue.edu> nvi@mace.cc.purdue.edu (Charles C. Allen) writes:
>>
>>Frankly, I've been very dissappointed with Design Science support.
> 
> Frankly, so have I. 

That makes 3 of us!  When I first reported the "empty equations" and
hanging problems I got the brush off routine ("no else has complained
about that one, can't be our fault" -- my words, not theirs).  I had
to be able to duplicate the problem reliably before they'd be
interested.  Not easy with a apparently randomly occuring problem (the
only thing that isn't random about it is that it only happens when
MathType is running!).  That was at least a year ago, and the
occurences are still as unpredictable as ever.

Some netters have sent me mail suggesting using the older version
(2.05 -- which has no TeX conversion) and System 6.0.5, but we have
had the hanging problem with those as well, although the empty
equations don't happen.  It's pretty poor when *users* have to
figure out that "downgrading" to a previous version is the solution to
a problem, and the developers don't have a clue about problems with
their own product.

I'm going to write to them and give them a chance to do something
about our greivances, letting them know that we (I support 8 other
MathType users) aren't the only ones as well.  If they don't do
anything about it, and don't address the problems mentioned in the
upgrade, we'll have to consider switching to MathWriter or
Expressionist.

-- 
Phil Etheridge (phil@waikato.ac.nz)              Phax:  +64 +71 384 155
Computer Services/Mathematics & Statistics       Phone: +64 +71 568 299 x 8339
University of Waikato, Hamilton, NZ.                I'd rather be MTBing