[R] How do I get my IT department to "bless" R?

Michael Bibo michael_bibo at health.qld.gov.au
Fri Jan 30 05:06:25 CET 2009


Daniel Viar <dan.viar <at> gmail.com> writes:

> 
> I currently use R at work "under the radar", but there's a chance I
> could loose that access.  I'd like to get our company to feel
> comfortable with open source and R in particular.  Does anyone have
> any experience with their company's IT department and management that
> they would be willing to share?  How does one get an all Microsoft
> shop on board with allowing users to user R?  I know about the recent
> NY Times article and recent news.  I'm afraid I may need some case
> studies or examples of what other companies have done.
> 
> Any help would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks
> Dan Viar
> Chesapeake, VA
> 
> ______________________________________________
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> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html
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> 
> 
Just my opinions from my own experience...

Don't talk to just anyone in your IT department, but try to identify someone 
who a) has some authority/decision-making power; and b) is likely to be 
somewhat OSS knowledgable/tolerant/keen.

Go through proper procedures.  In my organisation, there is a specific process 
for approval of software.  I filled in appropriate forms and provided 
supporting documentation such as:

http://www.r-project.org/doc/R-FDA.pdf
copy of the GPL and references such as http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?
story=2008081313212422
R installation and administration manual
NY Times article

I also made futher points about the extensive use of R in peer-reviewed 
journals such as JSS, and the superiority of the email help list and archives 
over the support offered for most proprietary products (with specific 
examples).

Most of this is to make it abundantly clear that you are talking about a 
quality, open-source product, not some small piece of freeware developed by an 
individual.

I have found two main types of IT concerns.  Firstly, they are appropriately 
concerned about licensing issues.  You need to reinforce that, though free, it 
is licensed - under the GPL.  Secondly, they may have concerns simply because 
it is not the existing/approved/supported norm in your organisation.  I have 
found that it is important here to make it clear that you will not be 
expecting them to 'support' the software in the sense of helping you learn to 
use it (which is often the case for office-type software and its users in 
organisations).

And if all else fails, and your organisation's policies refer to 'installing' 
software, you can always run it portably, even from an external drive (at 
least in a Windows environment).

Ultimately, though, I think the thing that helped most to convince our IT 
department to let me try R was when they themselves had the nightmare of 
dealing with the licensing and accounts division of a certain well-known 
statistical package proprietor.

Michael Bibo
Queensland Health




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