I have always found BSD-style licenses refreshingly simple compared to the GPL.

Ideological issues aside,  BSD licenses also seem much more in the spirit of academic work.

I have always found BSD-style licenses refreshingly simple compared to the GPL.

Ideological issues aside,  BSD licenses also seem much more in the spirit of academic work.

1. I suspect that the people who write the calculus routines for most computer algebra systems are in fact mathematicians -- that in itself is certainly no guarantee of quality software.

2.  What is a "mathematician" anyway?  Do you have to have a Ph.D? Is a masters okay? What if that degree is in physics, engineering or computer science? Can you still be a mathematician in that case? 

3. Assertions about "the Sage developers" are pretty much irrelevant in this context since Sage outsources most calculus to Maxima.

This doesn't seem to be true at all about the Maple EULA, or even EULAs in general.  These are all very standard phrases:

...does not warrant that the Software will meet Licensee's requirements, be error free, or operate without interruptions...

...Licensee further acknowledges that the Software is not fault-tolerant and is not designed, manufactured, or intended for use or resale as on-line control equipment in hazardous environments requiring fail safe performance in which the failure of the Software could lead directly to death, personal injury, or severe physical or environmental damage ("High Risk Activities")...

...OTHER THAN AS EXPRESSLY SET OUT HEREIN AND TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY APPLICABLE LAWS, THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, STATUTORY OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO IMPLIED WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

It looks like ArrayTools[Reshape] and ArrayTools[Alias] can also convert Matrices to Vectors (and back) with (and without) copying.

It looks like ArrayTools[Reshape] and ArrayTools[Alias] can also convert Matrices to Vectors (and back) with (and without) copying.

Thanks Roman.  Does anyone else know if maple will function without the JRE directories if I only plan to use the classic and command line interfaces?  Or if I need java, is it possible to use the system-wide Java installation?

I just got a eee pc and I plan to install maple on it.  The maple install process doesn't seem to have a compact install option, but it seems like a lot of the 700 megs is probably not necessary.  Any one have any ideas about what is safe to remove? It looks like it should be safe to remove the examples directories, as well as the java and jre directories.  Is anything else safe to remove?