[poleguy]

I'm in engineeering at a major engineering company historically using simulink and matlab. Python took over here in large part because matlab licensing caused so much friction, and we wanted to scale the simulink and matlab models up to run on a cluster of machines. We wanted to give scripts to people without matlab licenses quickly. etc. It was not the cost per-se, but the red tape.

We also ditched simulink because it is very difficult to version control and collaborate with a graphical interface.

Matlab is pushed heavily in the schools so all the engineers knew it and were comfortable with it. Matplotlib and numpy mimicing matlab very closely allowed the transition to be easy. We're not looking back. Only a handful of people still use matlab for their individual work because the python camp hit critical mass and the transition is not hard.

Matlab working to control serial ports, ethernet, visa/gpib instruments, all without the friction of getting extra licenses was icing on the cake. Matlab has a buy the cadillac model: the wheels, doors, hood, gas cap, mirrors are all optional add-ons. Each point causes friction, as only a few people had the whole tool, and therefore nobody could reliably share code.