[R] The hidden costs of GPL software?

[Philippe Grosjean]

Peter Dalgaard wrote:
> [...]
> Strategically, that might actually be a valid (and valiant) 
> design goal! From my limited experience with Rcmdr and SAS 
> Analyst, I'd say that Rcmdr is almost there, just a few 
> little niggles like not remembering values from the last time 
> a form was filled in.

Humm, in my view, this is a feature! The first time the user calls the form,
it creates the corresponding R script. If the user needs to make
corrections, or to run the analysis a second time, he is now supposed to
work with this script! By not remembering last values in a dialog box, Rcmdr
makes the script edition more obvious than recalling the dialog box
again,... even for lazy people! Otherwise, you are sure that those lazy
people will not switch to script: they will call the same dialog box again
and again.

Of course, one has to explain to the students that this is a feature.
Otherwise, it may look like a bad design, especially in comparison with
other "better designed" GUIs!

Best,

Philippe Grosjean

> [...]