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Path: utzoo!linus!wanginst!perlman
From: perlman@wanginst.UUCP (Gary Perlman)
Newsgroups: net.micro.pc,net.math.stat
Subject: Re: SAS/PC, PowerStat, and UNIX|STAT
Message-ID: <57@wanginst.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 10-Jul-86 14:56:12 EDT
Article-I.D.: wanginst.57
Posted: Thu Jul 10 14:56:12 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 11-Jul-86 07:24:16 EDT
References: <2282@utcsstat.uucp>
Reply-To: perlman@wanginst.UUCP (Gary Perlman)
Organization: Wang Institute, Tyngsboro, MA 01879 USA
Lines: 80
Xref: linus net.micro.pc:8619 net.math.stat:214
Summary: 

Here are some answers to your questions.

In article <2282@utcsstat.uucp> spence@utcsstat.UUCP writes:

>But at current prices can Gary provide support for UNIX|STAT?
    I can't provide support, except that I try to help out people if
    they can't get the package running on a new UNIX machine (there
    are about 20 hardware-software combinations running |STAT on UNIX). 

>Will he mail out updates to all users?
    About once a year, I send out an announcement of what is in the
    new release, and it is up to the user to order it, if they think
    the enhancements are worth the extra $15 for MSDOS or $20 for
    UNIX.  People can freely copy the package, both on and off site,
    so it is not possible for me to get information about updates to
    all users. 

>Will he provide telephone support during business hours?
    This is something that a computer center would want, and something
    I definately will not provide. 

>Is his (optional) documentation typeset and bound?
    It is typeset on paper, and stapled between heavy paper covers. 
    I charge $10 for the handbook, and $5 for printed versions of the
    online manual entries.  To be honest, I don't care if people make
    copies.

>How extensive is the documentation?
    It is meant for people familiar with running commands like DIR,
    DEL, COPY, and SORT on MSDOS, or similar commands on UNIX.  It can
    get a lot of whining from undergraduates if they don't get a lot
    of hand holding, but I have seen many undergraduate courses use it
    effectively. 

>It's tough to deliver lots of service when it's a hobby and not a business.
    You bet, and the person who requests |STAT must be willing to
    spend the time to read the manuals carefully.  However, individual
    programs do not need much support, because they are UNIX style
    tools; how much support does someone need for a descriptive stats
    program that reads all the numbers in its input?  One feature I like
    about the |STAT programs is that they can be used away from data
    analysis; there are several programs for text manipulation in
    files.  The major problems with learning |STAT is in learning how
    to make the programs work together, through pipelines.  Consider
    the following command line to make a 5x5 matrix of uniformly
    random numbers drawn from 1..25 with replacement:
        probdist random uniform 25 | dm floor(x1*25+1) | maketrix 5
    or without replacement:
        series 1 25 | perm | maketrix 5
    These are intuitive to a UNIX user, but it takes a while for
    students struggling with MSDOS to learn the tricks. 

>They can both run on vanilla PCs with 256K and two floppies.
    |STAT runs on vanilla MSDOS, not just IBM PC's.  People have
    told me they have the programs running on AT&T, DEC, Tandy, adn
    Wang PC's.  You don't even need two floppies, but the thought of
    doing anything on a PC with just one floppy make me queasy. 

>We've tried PowerStat here
>at the University of Toronto in several classes: students find it very easy to
>learn and use.  Much more so than SAS (which we formerly used on the
>mainframe).
    Although I think SAS provides the most functionality of any PC
    stat package, I don't think it is necessary or appropriate for
    student instruction.  I am not even sure that my |STAT is
    appropriate for students, given that there is no student manual,
    only a users manual. 

>I'd like to see more good statistical software for PCs--I don't think that
>we should sit back and let SAS Institute do it all (good as they are).  We
>need innovative approaches like Gary Perlman's UNIX|STAT and Analytical
>Engineering's PowerStat.
    As PC's get faster, and mass storage cheaper, SAS will become more
    palatable.  I hope there is enough competition to motivate SAS to
    get better and cheaper.  Stat packages seem to be a good candidate
    for commodity pricing sometime in the future. 

-- 
Gary Perlman  Wang Institute  Tyngsboro, MA 01879  (617) 649-9731
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