Thanks! (Was: Re: [R] R-2.1.0 is released)

[Naji]

Pr. Ripley

>> Don't forget that universities have to train their students with the
>> softwares companies are using.
Right 'have' is abusive

Companies want to keep a certain continuity in their service/product.
There's a kind of inertia switching from their core software (SAS, MATLAB or
other) to any other software. And therefore, universities won't completely
leave trainings using those softwares (push and indirect pull 'marketing'
efforts from software companies and companies (recruiters)).
For the ST/MT, universities won't dump some leading statistical softwares.

I hope more and more universities will teach statistics using R or
equivalent (if it exists). They will 'produce' people more likely
- to know what they are processing (they have to understand the underlying
algorithm, weakness and strength)
- to adopt the best approach (versus the one implemented or to wait until
the approach is implemented)
And as R is 'free', there is no discrimination or financial barrier.

My wish is to see a clear distinction between 'learning statistics' ( a
must) and 'using commercial software' (optional). I agree with your point of
view that the latest is not the university objective (still the question
about preparing for the labor market, which is another debate).

Best regards
Naji
 
Le 21/04/05 7:19, « Prof Brian Ripley » <ripley at stats.ox.ac.uk> a écrit :

> On Wed, 20 Apr 2005, Naji wrote:
> 
>> Don't forget that universities have to train their students with the
>> softwares companies are using.
Right 'have' is abusive
> 
> Not so.  But companies have to hire the people universities teach (or
> non-graduates if they can find them and train those).  As a result
> software companies give universities very good deals, even in some cases
> including hardware, to use their software.
> 
> Our goal is to teach people things useful for the next decade, not what is
> implemented in current software, commercial or otherwise.  R has benefited
> enormously from parts developed in meeting that goal.

R has more than 400 packages (R 2.01 MacOSX3.9, CRAN list); if one can't
find exactly what he wants, he'll get at least a excellent starting point