Date:         Thu, 8 Jan 2009 10:02:00 -0600
Reply-To:     Mary <mlhoward@avalon.net>
Sender:       "SAS(r) Discussion" <SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
From:         Mary <mlhoward@AVALON.NET>
Subject:      Re: R "Threatens" SAS, According to The New York Times
Comments: To: Phil Rack <PhilRack@MINEQUEST.COM>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"

It would be nice to see number of *distinct* posters on both lists over the past few years, does anyone have this
data for SAS-L?   Also, there are now SAS forums on the SAS website; it would be helpful to tabulate those
numbers as well. 

It was mentioned in the R thread that R can run from within SPSS; does anyone know anything about this?   I
do think it would be nice if R could run from within SAS; the point was made over in the R discussion that SAS
has focused more on data mining/data warehousing lately, and so it may not be the case that allowing R to run
from within SAS would actually hurt its market share.

-Mary
  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Phil Rack 
  To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU 
  Sent: Thursday, January 08, 2009 6:57 AM
  Subject: Re: R "Threatens" SAS, According to The New York Times


  There's been some discussion about this on the R-Nabble forum. Someone on that forum has pulled posts from the SAS-L, S, and R forums and plotted them over time. The thread about R and that discussion can be found at:

  http://www.nabble.com/R-in-the-NY-Times-to21331221.html

  Phil


  Philip Rack
  MineQuest, LLC
  SAS & WPS Consulting and WPS Reseller
  Tel: (614) 457-3714
  Web: www.MineQuest.com
  Blog: www.MineQuest.com/WordPress


  -----Original Message-----
  From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of Arthur Tabachneck
  Sent: 01/07/2009 9:21 PM
  To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
  Subject: Re: R "Threatens" SAS, According to The New York Times

  Ken,

  I'm not going to detract from Howard's annual summary of SAS-L postings
  but, even with the significant reduction of posts from David and Toby, the
  annual number of SAS-L posts has continued to increase, not decrease as
  stated in the article.

  That said, I hope that Dr. G. and staff consider the various concepts that
  have been suggested in this thread, as I do think they suggest a couple of
  significant opportunities for SAS if they choose to capitalize on them.

  Art
  --------
  On Wed, 7 Jan 2009 08:43:44 -0500, Ken Borowiak <evilpettingzoo97@AOL.COM>
  wrote:

  >On Tue, 6 Jan 2009 20:41:40 -0800, Virtual SUG <sfbay0001@AOL.COM> wrote:
  >
  >>Hello everyone...
  >>
  >>Thought you might be interested in reading this article, which appears
  >>in the 1/6/9 online edition of The New York Times:
  >>
  >>http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/07/technology/business-
  >computing/07program.html
  >>
  >>The headline is "Data Analysts Captivated by R's Power," and towards
  >>the end of the story is the following paragraph:
  >>
  >>"While it is difficult to calculate exactly how many people use R,
  >>those most familiar with the software estimate that close to 250,000
  >>people work with it regularly. The popularity of R at universities
  >>could threaten SAS Institute, the privately held business software
  >>company that specializes in data analysis software. SAS, with more
  >>than $2 billion in annual revenue, has been the preferred tool of
  >>scholars and corporate managers. "
  >>
  >>Andrew Karp
  >>Sierra Information Services
  >>www.SierraInfomation.com
  >
  >
  >Even David and Toby were implicitly mentioned in the article:
  >
  >“R has really become the second language for people coming out of grad
  >school now, and there’s an amazing amount of code being written for it,”
  >said Max Kuhn, associate director of nonclinical statistics at
  Pfizer. “You
  >can look on the SAS message boards and see there is a proportional
  downturn
  >in traffic.”
  >
  >pax,
  >Ken Borowiak