Yves,

As a long-time user of SPSS, Stata, SAS, Systat, and R, I can say, without a doubt, it is time for you to switch to Stata.

I agree with all of your observations. Yes, the Stata Journal is outstanding.

The Stata listserv is much more active than this listserv. A much broader range of topics tends to be covered.

Scott Millis ~~~~~~~~~~~ "Kunst ist schön, macht aber viel Arbeit."

Scott R Millis, PhD, ABPP (CN,CL,RP), CStat, CSci Professor & Director of Research Dept of Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation Dept of Emergency Medicine Wayne State University School of Medicine 261 Mack Blvd Detroit, MI 48201 Email: smillis@med.wayne.edu Tel: 313-993-8085 Fax: 313-966-7682

--- On Fri, 9/25/09, Yves Therriault <Yves_Therriault@ssss.gouv.qc.ca> wrote:

> From: Yves Therriault <Yves_Therriault@ssss.gouv.qc.ca> > Subject: Re: Can we "freeze" at SPSS 15 for several years? > To: SPSSX-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU > Date: Friday, September 25, 2009, 4:46 PM > > Dear SPSS listers, > > > > I've been using SPSS for almost 20 years in my work as > a research analyst in public health. I've been a SPSS > fan since the old days when I was working with SPSS Pc +. I > rarely use the GUI and prefer to work with syntax. I learned > a lot from this list (many thanks to Ray Levesque, Hector > Malletta, and many others). > > > > Yet, I'm seriously considering to switch to Stata > instead of upgrading to the new SPSS 18 release (from my > current 12.01 version). I've had the opportunity to test > a demo version of Stata (Stata intercooled) earlier this > year and I'm very impressed with the software. I'm > not a statistician, but it seems to me that Stata is > generally superior to SPSS in many ways. > > > > - First of all, with Stata, we have the > "complete" thing. No need to buy rather expensive > add-on modules if one needs and wants to do more advanced > statistical analysis or has to analyse data from complex > samples. Even though Stata has a complete set of features, > the IC version is less expensive than the SPSS Base version > (sorry, I'm still not used to PASW name). > > > > - Stata syntax seems to be far more intuitive. > > > > - Better documentation. > > > > - Features and procedures very useful in public health > (like the standardization of rates, direct or indirect). > > > > - For what I know, Stata is much more internet aware than > SPSS. Updating Stata is really easy as Garry said. There > are hundreds and hundreds of user-written routines that can > be installed quicky and directly from the internet with a > particular Stata command. No need no login to Stata website > do so. > > > > - Stata website has much more useful resources. The > information we seek is very easy to find. > > > > - Licensing policies that allow Stata users to use their > license code to install the software on 3 computers (office, > home, and personal laptop) provided of course that only one > instance of Stata is running at the same time. > > > > - Stata concentrates its efforts into developing a product > in a way I agree with. I never really agreed with the > orientation that SPSS has taken in the last years (focusing > on "predictive analysis" for big corporations in > order to help them to make better decisions). > > > > - Stata publishes its own quarterly peer-reviewed journal > in Statistics. I can't judge the merits of Stata journal > nor its quality, but I think its a good indicator that Stata > is very "statistically oriented". The journal also > publishes notes, columns, comments and tips written by > strong Stata users. > > > > I totally agree with Garry that SPSS output capabilities > are far better than Stata's. Stata is currently light > years behind SPSS regarding output management. It's the > only advantage I see in SPSS over Stata and it's the > only reason why I didn't switch to Stata yet. > > > > Nevertheless, is it time to see goodbye to an old friend ? > > > > > Kind regards, > > > > Yves > Therriault, Ph. D. > > Agent de recherche > > Surveillance de l'état de santé de la > population (Santé publique) > > Agence de la santé et des services sociaux de la > Côte-Nord > > Baie-Comeau > (QC), Canada > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > > > > Date: Thu, 24 Sep 2009 20:23:04 +0100 > > From: Garry Gelade > <garry@business-analytic.co.uk> > > Subject: Re: Can we "freeze" at SPSS 15 for > several years? > > > > Bruce > > > > One of the great advantages of Stata is the ease with > which new statistical > > procedures can be added, eg if you want a robust statistics > module, or a > > spatial autocorrelation module, you can just download the > relevant package > > for free, and install it quickly. You don't have to > 'upgrade'. SPSS on the > > other hand comes with a fixed set of procedures. Of course > you can add on > > modules - at a price - but even then the range on offer is > nowhere near as > > comprehensive as in Stata. > > > > That said, SPSS is a fantastic product in many ways, > and its output > > capabilities are far better than Stata. But instead of > spending development > > effort on annual upgrades, which are expensive and time > consuming for many > > users, I'd like to see SPSS extending the Python and R > side, and building a > > range of downloadable packages. > > > > Garry Gelade > > Business Analytic Ltd

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