[R-SIG-Mac] R-SIG-Mac] Mac or Windows...?

[Klaus Thul]

Dear Carlos,

I am currently using R on two Macs at home (MacBook Pro and G5 iMac)  
and on Window (at work). In the past I used it also on LINUX. My  
thoughts and impressions:

1. R works very well on all platforms, I never observed compatibility  
issues between the platforms. New versions get released for all  
platforms in parallel.

2. The default user-interface is best on MacOS X (e. g. has syntax  
highlighting). A major advantage of the Mac is the Quartz graphics  
device. Graphics quality on screen is much better and it is possible  
to copy and paste graphics without quality loss to other applications.

3. Developing and building own packages is easier on UNIX based  
system (Mac OS or LINUX) then on Windows. You can also build binary  
packages for Windows on LINUX or Mac OS.

4. The MacBook Pro (I have a CoreDuo 1 15' 1.86 MHz) is a very nice  
machine including the software it comes with (from PhotoBooth to  
XCode). For R there is definitely no need in running Windows on the  
Mac; if you need to exchange a lot of MS office documents you can  
consider buying MS Office for Mac, but free NeoOffice is sufficient  
if you get e. g. data in EXCEL format.

Best regards,
Klaus


> Dear friends,
>
> I’m thinking about buying a MacBook Pro and I wanted to know if  
> anyone can
> tell me what are the major changes, in “R”, between a Mac, and a  
> Windows.
>
> Thanks for all
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
> Carlos GUERRA
>
>
>
> Instituto Politécnico de Viana do Castelo
>
> Escola Superior Agrária de Ponte de Lima
>
>
>
> Mosteiro de Refóios do Lima
>
> 4990-706 Ponte de Lima
>
> PORTUGAL
>
>
>
> MAIL: carlosguerra at esa.ipvc.pt
>
> TEL: +351 912 407 109
>
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>