MountainsSPIP® FAQ
Which features will be included in MountainsSPIP® 8?
The new MountainSPIP® 8 will ultimately have more features than SPIP™ 6 as it is a fusion of two software packages. We have released the first version of MountainsSPIP® 8 July 12 2019, and plan for a subsequent intermediate release early 2020. See MountainsSPIP® key features here.
Who are entitled to a free one-year MountainsSPIP® 8 license?
- All SPIPTM customers who had/have an active SPIPTM maintenance service at between June 30, 2019 and December 31, 2019 are entitled to a free one-year MountainsSPIP® license.
Note, the duration of the time limited MountainsSPIP® license has been extended to December 31, 2020.
Before the time limited MountainsSPIP license expires it is optional to make a free transfer of the SPIP license to an equivalent perpetual MountainsSPIP® license.
I am entitled to a MountainsSPIP license, how do I obtain it?
If you haven’t already been contacted by our mother company, Digital Surf, please contact sales@digitalsurf.com to request your MountainsSPIP® license. Please provide your SPIP™ license id (SPIPxxxx) and dongle serial number.
How will my MountainsSPIP® 8 license be configured when I update from SPIP™ ?
Like SPIP™ there are three MountainsSPIP® main packages: Starter, Expert and Premium and f you have one of the SPIP main packages you will receive the equivalent MountainsSPIP® package. There is a slight change in the naming as the "SPIP Standard" package corresponds to the "MountainsSPIP® Expert" package. Additional optional modules will also be available. If you have a customized SPIPTM package you may need to upgrade your SPIP™ configuration to the nearest compatible MountainsSPIP® product. Our sales team will be available to advise you on the best suited product.
Learn more about the MountainsSPIP® packages
Will I be entitled to get an educational discount?
Educational discounts are not applicable to the new standard products. However, we designed a special product called MountainsSPIP® Academic which corresponds to the Premium package and is cheaper. It is dedicated to universities and engineering schools and the user interface will only be the English language.
What will the price be after release of MountainsSPIP® ?
The exact pricing of new MountainsSPIP® licenses and updates will be made available nearer the release date.
How will the maintenance service work?
The maintenance service will continue to work on an annual basis as it has done for SPIP. With an active maintenance service, you get access to the most recent version of the software and you are eligible for premium technical support.
How will I learn how to use MountainsSPIP® ?
The interface and features of MountainsSPIP® are closer to the current versions of MountainsMap® software than to SPIP™. To help SPIP™ customers make the transition, we are currently compiling a series of tutorials and examples which will be made available when the new software is released.
Will I be able to continue using both SPIP™ and MountainsSPIP® ?
Yes, there will be transition period after the release of MountainsSPIP® 8 until December 31 2020, during which you can keep and use both SPIP™ 6 and MountainsSPIP® 8 licenses.
After this transition period, your MountainsSPIP® 8 license can become permanent if you return your SPIP™ 6 license. Alternatively, if you wish to keep using both licenses, you will be offered this for an attractive price. You can of course also decide just to continue with your SPIP™ license, but please be aware that there will be no SPIP™ updates after 2020.
What is the future of SPIP™ ?
SPIP 6™ will be maintained for bug fixes, although only until the end of 2020. The future of SPIP™ is MountainsSPIP® which will incorporate SPIP™ features.
Can I use the new MountainsSPIP® with my optical profiler?
MountainsSPIP® is dedicated to SPM-type instruments, i.e. AFM, STM, SNOM… However, the Mountains® product range also offers software dedicated to profilers (MountainsMap®) or electron microscopes (MountainsSEM®). They will be the preferred choice if your instrument is not a SPM and there will be attractive offers for converting to these packages.
Can I use MountainsSPIP® both on my AFM and my SEM?
The Premium package will continue to have support for SEM images. In addition, there will be an optional SEM module with dedicated tools for SEM images.
Is MountainsSPIP® compatible with very large data obtained by stitching?
Yes, MountainsSPIP® is a 64-bit application and therefore can handle very large amount of memory if available. Its algorithms are parallelized to make use of all processor cores and speed up calculations.
Is MountainsSPIP® compatible with force curve data?
Yes, MountainsSPIP® offers features for force curve analysis, force volume analysis and CITS. They are available as an optional module in MountainsSPIP® Standard and are included in MountainsSPIP® Premium.
Can I use MountainsSPIP® on Windows XP?
No, MountainsSPIP® requires Windows 7, 8 or 10, in their 64-bit versions. On other platforms, SPIP 6™ can be used.
What languages are available in the user interface?
MountainsSPIP®, like all other products in the Mountains® range, is available in 11 languages: English, German, French, Italian, Spanish, Polish, Russian, Japanese, Korean, Mandarin Chinese and Brazilian Portuguese. The Academic package is limited to English.
Is documentation (help) provided with MountainsSPIP® ?
Yes, all versions come with an integrated Reference Guide that can be displayed on screen. You can also access contextual help by pressing the F1 key at any time (opens the help page corresponding to the function in use). Full documentation is available in English, German, French and Japanese. The Academic package is limited to English.
Printed versions of the Reference Guide can also be purchased separately.
