[R-sig-finance] R vs. S-PLUS

[Gary Cable]

Hello all, 

I recently joined Insightful Corporation as Product Manager for Financial
Solutions. I continue to hear a theme of R versus S and I find it somewhat
curious. R is based on S and has gained a following based on a number of
contributions from academia and industry experts.
 
I prefer to view R as one evolutionary path that S has taken. It has the same
positives that any other GNU tool that I have seen in my professional
life--it is free and open for everyone's use and contribution. This is both
it's strength and it's weakness. It is a strength because people can use it
as a sandbox for their ideas; it can also be a weakness because it (IMO) does
not represent a commercial tool that provides me with stability, product
support, and professional services. 

R is primarily an academic solution. Diethelm Wuertz states, "A major aim is
to bring financial algorithms and concepts together under a common software
platform and to make it public available mainly for teaching financial
engineering and computational finance." and  "Rmetrics is embedded in R, both
building an environment which creates especially for students and researchers
in the third world a first class system for applications in statistics and
finance." 

I don't want to detract from the success of the R language, but if I were
going to build solutions in a highly regulated industry that expects
documentation, official support and standardization -- I would be inclined
toward a commercial solution rather than a freeware solution. This decision
comes from twenty years of experience of application development. 

I recently got this information from the RMETRICS web site.

"No warranty for this free software." (GNU License) 
RMETRICS website states "Use "RMETRICS" at your own risk! 
For commercial and business applications we recommend to use S-PLUS from
www.Insightful.Com"
Multiple packages may or may not be supported or standardized 
Commercial deployment options may be limited (GNU License)

As a product manager for Insightful, I can offer the following:

Insightful owns the IP (the S Language) and is committed to its ongoing
improvement.
Insightful provides product support for multiple platforms (Windows, UNIX,
Linux) for both desktop and server solutions.
Insightful is committed to providing world class solutions to finance, and
intends that finance will represent a major part of its market share.
S+FinMetrics continues to receive contributions from industry leaders in
financial statistics and econometrics.
Insightful staff (25% of whom are PhD's) are committed to the support of our
customers in finance.

And finally, I am personally committed to provide the financial tools and
solutions that you (our customers) need and expect.

Please feel free to contact me directly if you'd like to discuss R and S or
have any questions about Insightful products/services. 

gcable at insightful.com
800-569-0123 ext. 460

Gary Cable

Senior Manager of Finance
Insightful Financial Products and Services 
gcable at insightful.com



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