I am a big MINITAB fan, but I'll be as unbiassed as I can be. . .
When I was looking for a general statistics package to provide for engineering
use (basic stats, regression, GLM, reliability/survival analysis, DOE, etc) the
only packages that had the tools I needed were Statistica, JMP, MINITAB, and
StatGraphics. I spent a lot of time playing with each of these.
I VERY seriously considered Statistica, it has a very good graphics engine, but
I found it much too hard to use. I found it could do everything, but I was
always struggling to get it done. It made my brain hurt. I seriously encourage
you to download their demo - although it is probably so hobbled it may be hard
to use.
StatGraphics has a very old windows environment, so I ruled it out pretty early.
JMP 4 is a pretty good stat package, but I've always found JMP to have an odd
environment, especially for someone who knows what they want to do (what tests
to run, etc). Their Fit Model tool drives me nuts. JMP 4 is slightly improved,
esier to find stuff, but not much better. It does have a slightly better
survival tool, but it is limited - right censor only - no interval censoring or
plots that I can find. Do download the JMP 4 demo - it is hobbled, so you can
only use their data, can't print, etc - at www.jmpdiscovery.com. It makes it
hard to evaluate fully.
As I said, I really like MINITAB, and strongly recommend it. It has very
powerful GLM, , time series, regression, Survival, and basic stats tools. It
also has good graphics, although not as nice as Statistica. They have a fully
functioning demo (the only "hobble" is it stops operating after 30 days - and
they can even extend that if you call them) at www.minitab.com.
If your objective is to do statistics with less sweat, then MINITAB should be
looked at.
If your objective is to get slick graphics, but work hard, then check out
Statistica.
I think both JMP and MINITAB are about the same price - I think Statistica will
be quite a bit more expensive.
AJ wrote:
> I am interested in opinions on the Statistica package. I have always used
> SPSS, but now that I need to buy my own program, I am intrigued by
> Statistica. Not surprisingly, their ads are very compelling. I need a
> general, broad-based package with basic stats, GLM, regression, survival
> analysis, and graphics. I have used SPSS since the mainframe days, but I am
> Statistica (and Systat) appear to provide excellent value. I am a
> behavioral science researcher with a moderate to strong background in
> applied multivariate analysis (not a statistician). Any comments?
> Thanks. -- Al J.
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