On Wed, Feb 18, 2009 at 8:02 PM, Marc Schwartz <marc_schwartz@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > "Pittigher, Raymond - CS" <Raymond.Pittigher@xxxxxxx> writes: > >> Yes there is. SAS (www.sas.com) and the S (www.insightful.com) along >> with open source R can be found on Linux. > > Insightful was purchased by Tibco/Spotfire last year, with many of the > key tech support staff leaving the company. Bill Dunlap is about the > only familiar name left there. > > There are some doubts as to the future of S-Plus as a stand alone > product versus becoming an analytic engine for some yet to be announced > application server. Such is the rumor mill... > > The user base of S-Plus has deteriorated substantially over the years, > in large measure due to R and Insightful's own mis-steps. There was a > discussion last month on the r-help list subsequent to a recent NY Times > article that covered R. As a result, I posted some analyses of trends in > the posting volume on the S-Plus, R and SAS primary help e-mail > lists. That post is here if anyone is interested: > > https://stat.ethz.ch/pipermail/r-help/2009-January/184196.html > > There are PDF files with the relevant plots as attachments to the > post. Caution is urged in interpreting the data as representing a > possible figure for the size of the user base, as there are other fora > (including phone support) for SAS and S-Plus as commercial products. In > addition, over the past several years, some level of the traffic on > r-help, despite the notable growth, has moved to specialty lists for R > covering topics that are OS specific (Fedora, Debian, OSX) and subject > matter specific (finance, databases, mixed models, genetics, etc.). > > Also, there are at least 3 companies that have announced commercially > supported versions of R, as a sign of R's growth and maturity. These > would be to R, what RH is to Fedora. I won't reference them here, as I > have no association with them. Google searches can locate them. If one > needs a commercial version of R, much as one might want RHEL in lieu of > Fedora, these companies might provide an option for you. > > HTH, > > Marc Schwartz > > -- > fedora-list mailing list > fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx > To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list > Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines Thank you, all for your answers. I was looking for the Statistical Analysis Software (SAS) for Linux. Their website is difficult to navigate, especially for a newbie single-user, and I don't think it would be worth the while putting in a 'Call Request' for my needs (single-PC, home user, student) ) - I dual-boot Win XP Prof with openSUSE 11.1 on my home PC; a few months ago it was only Win XP Prof. After installing Linux, I find I am using Linux much more than Windows, for a variety of reasons that can be found at most sites espousing GNU/Linux, and am keen to learn Linux and Programming Languages (later), (I have a medical background). SAS was the default software provided by the Dept/School IT Dept (volume-licensed to the School of Public Health) to Graduate students in the MPH (Master's in Public Health program...will not mention which School/Univ), where I was enrolled till a few months back- but had to withdraw mid-way due to health and domestic reasons. In the meantime (and even while in the MPH program), I was interested in appearing for the SAS/BASE Exam as a Professional Certification. Now, as I have some free time, I thought I might sit for the Exam and thought of installing SAS on oS 11.1 Linux; hence the question (also it would have *wowed* some of my Professors then, looking at the Platform -not being Windows XP, but on "Kernel Linux 2.6.27.7-9-pae" (I suppose that is what it would say in 'proc contents' - students needed to submit a copy of the SAS Program syntax with their Computer Homework). As such, quite a few MPH students found it difficult initially to install/ configure SAS on even their _Windows_ PC's (laptops) - none had Linux and there was no Linux version of SAS 9.1.3 available at the Computer Labs, AFAIK. Well, I guess the bottom-line is that SAS can't (for all practical purposes for a home user like me, who can't shell out the $$$), be installed on Linux oS 11.1 at the moment. Besides, officially at least, oS 11.1 is not supported. So, if I need to practice for the SAS/ BASE Exam, it will have to be on Windows. Would like to explore the FOSS alternatives, particularly 'R' (though I think they R lacks the fancy add-ons such as ODS that SAS has; and has a steeper learning curve). As I recall there was a Course in Statistics where the Professor used 'R' entirely, instead of the default SAS. Jay -- Registered Linux User # 483705 @ http://counter.li.org/ (openSUSE 11.1, i686) Smolts Profile: http://www.smolts.org/client/show/?uuid=pub_b541a450-9bc1-45fd-beab-d46ee43a0108 -- fedora-list mailing list fedora-list@xxxxxxxxxx To unsubscribe: https://www.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/fedora-list Guidelines: http://fedoraproject.org/wiki/Communicate/MailingListGuidelines
