[R] License Question

[David Smith]

[replying to r-help as well]

Hi Tom,

> Thanks.  I am looking forward to more information.

We're putting together the academic program right now, but our website
will be updated with more details in the next few weeks.  As I
mentioned though our general attitude is that RPro should be available
to individuals at academic institutions for free.  We're in the
process of finalizing some details around support and distribution.

> Good.  On the other hand, this sounds like it is (or will be) somewhat
> similar to the interfaces that already are avialble, e.g. Tinn-R or Rcmdr.
>  So, what are the advantages?

We're taking a Red Hat like approach to R at REvolution. We aim to
distribute R and select packages in a form that makes it easy to
install, and we provide support and services to the institutions that
use it.  RPro includes some extensions from REvolution (such as a
cross-platform installer, some additional documentation, a package of
utilities, and we compile it to link with high-performance Intel BLAS
libraries and support parallel processing) but at it's core it's 100%
the same R you download from CRAN.  The main benefit is that we manage
the release cycle, test and verify the binaries we build, and provide
dedicated support through our technical team.  If you're more of a
"bleeding edge" R user happy downloading alpha versions of R and
asking questions on R-devel this probably won't be much of an
advantage for you.  But for statisticians in companies where an IT
deparment manages the installation and access to technical support is
essential we hope to provide "added value", as they say (and hopefully
unburden r-help with some of the more mundane questions from
commercial R users to boot).

REvolution also aims to be a contributing member of the R community.
We're a benefactor of the R Foundation, and we contribute changes made
to the core R sources back to R.  That's required by the GPL, of
course, but it benefits everyone.  For example, we're working right
now on a 64-bit Windows build of R.  It's kinda tricky to build a
64-bit version of R on Windows right now, but once the necessary
changes are incorporated into the R sources it will be easier for
everyone, not just users of RPro.

If anyone on the list has any other questions about REvolution, please
feel free to contact me by email or phone (my number is in my
signature).  We'll also be at DSC2009 and UserR! next year.

-- 
David Smith <david at revolution-computing.com>
Director of Community, REvolution Computing www.revolution-computing.com
Tel: +1 (206) 577-4778 x3203


On Tue, Oct 28, 2008 at 2:57 AM, Tom Backer Johnsen <backer at psych.uib.no> wrote:
> David Smith wrote:
>>
>> Hi Tom,
>>
>> We're in the process of updating the information on our website for
>> academic users, but in general we're making RPro available to academic users
>> free of charge.  I'm just gathering the information from the department in
>> charge of the academic program, and I'll make a public reply to r-help when
>> I get that info.  Just wanted to respond to your question directly in the
>> interim.
>
> Thanks.  I am looking forward to more information.
>>
>> RPro isn't going the route of a closed menu approach -- it's the same R
>> command-line and script mode you're used to from R.  We're focussing more on
>> performance, parallel computation, and additional packages.
>
> Good.  On the other hand, this sounds like it is (or will be) somewhat
> similar to the interfaces that already are avialble, e.g. Tinn-R or Rcmdr.
>  So, what are the advantages?
>>
>> I'd be happy to answer any other questions you might have of RPro -- feel
>> free to call or email.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Tom
>
>