[R] Reasons to Use R

[Greg Snow]

For a previous version of SAS we had parts installed on each computer
where it was used, but there were key pieces located on a network drive
(not internet, but local network) such that if you tried to start SAS
while someone else was using it you would get an error message.

We had troubles with the network, so now we have a full version
installed on each computer, but the person in the company that is the
contact between us and SAS (my group has 1 licence, but the company as a
whole has several) checks up on us from time to time to make sure that
we stick within the 1 at a time guidelines (not hard, we mostly use
other things) or pay for additional licences.

S-PLUS has also had similar types of licences, I was teaching in a
computer lab where all the computers could run S-PLUS, but once 5 people
had started S-PLUS, noone else could until someone else quite out of it
(So we used R for that Class).  For S-PLUS 7 when I upgraded my computer
and installed my licenced copy on the new computer, it disabled the copy
on my old computer.  This may have changed somewhat, because I remember
there being some complaints from people who legitimately installed it on
their laptop, but it would not work when the laptop was not connected to
the internet.

There are a lot of different ways to try to enforce licence conditions
on software (and doing so is important for companies that want to make a
profit these days), unfortunately the current pendulum swing is making
thing more inconvienient for the common user (at home I have some
software that we use to program my wife's sewing machines that can be
installed on any computer, but only works if a hardware key is plugged
into a usb port).

-- 
Gregory (Greg) L. Snow Ph.D.
Statistical Data Center
Intermountain Healthcare
greg.snow at intermountainmail.org
(801) 408-8111
 
 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charilaos Skiadas [mailto:skiadas at hanover.edu] 
> Sent: Monday, April 09, 2007 3:24 PM
> To: Greg Snow
> Cc: Gabor Grothendieck; Lorenzo Isella; R-Help list
> Subject: Re: [R] Reasons to Use R
> 
> On Apr 9, 2007, at 1:45 PM, Greg Snow wrote:
> 
> > The licences keep changing, some have in the past but don't 
> now, some 
> > you can get an additional licence for home at a discounted 
> price. Some 
> > it depends on the type of licence you have at work 
> (currently our SAS 
> > licence is such that the 3 people in my group can all have it 
> > installed, but at most 1 can be using it at any 1 time, how 
> does that 
> > affect installing/using it at home).
> 
> Hm, this intrigues me, it would seem to me that the only way 
> for SAS to check that only one of your colleagues uses it at 
> any given time would be to contact some sort of online 
> server. Does that mean that SAS can only be run when you have 
> internet access?
> 
> Or is it simply a clause on the license, without any "runtime checks"?
> 
> Haris Skiadas
> Department of Mathematics and Computer Science Hanover College
> 
> 
> 
> 
>