[R] R in the NY Times

[Andrew Choens]

> Unfortunately, that type of FUD issued by the SAS marketing person still
> works. I see it at my employer (a large healthcare company.) It's a
> battle to change a culture, but ironically the recession helps.
> People are now taking notice of the obscene licensing fees for SAS.
> 
> Darin

I agree. I work for a consulting firm (human services) and my boss
prefers us to use SPSS, rather than R. It's painful. I have version 11
installed on my Windows laptop. Next year, the license expires! 

For someone coming from a SPSS background, R is a little mind-blowing,
simply because it is so much more powerful. But, perseverance pays off.
Once I master Sweave and such, I'll be able to churn out reports much
more quickly than I ever could with SPSS.

I do wish the author of the article had included comments from SPSS, in
addition to the humorous FUD from the SAS spokesperson. Newer versions
of SPSS actually have the option of using R for data analysis, in
addition to the SPSS engine. It would have been interesting to compare
the corporate responses of the two companies.

-- 
Insert something humorous here.  :-)