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STATISTICA has received another glowing review. A comprehensive (4.5 pages long) evaluation article on STATISTICA has just been published in BIOTECHNOLOGY SOFTWARE AND INTERNET JOURNAL. The authors praise the statistical comprehensiveness of the program ("To do full justice to the statistical capabilities of this remarkable program would take far too many pages. Merely to list an adequate sampling of its hundreds of tests, routines, and diagnostics would fill a review." (p. 12)), its graphics ("A full description of all graphics capabilities would fill several articles." (p. 13)), data management ("a remarkable spreadsheet" (p. 12)), customizability ("almost every aspect of the program is customizable" (p. 10)), user-interface ("an array of instant analyses or graphics can be performed with a few clicks," "custom applications are available with the click of an icon" (p. 12)), and documentation ("...outstanding introductions to the basics" (p. 11)). In summary, "This program (...combining the power of sophisticated systems with the ease of push button operations) is unlike anything currently on the market" (p. 10).
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STATISTICA Industrial System has received another glowing review. An article, entitled "The Program That Can: STATISTICA Pleases Professionals" evaluates virtually all aspects of the program in the most positive terms. "Each module offers a group of conceptually related tools and techniques; the intelligent overlap between these provides one of the most flexible user-control systems in this market." "An excellent spreadsheet, immediately familiar to Excel users, faithfully follows general Windows conventions." "Data management is intuitive and specialist extensions are smooth and logical." "STATISTICA permits an unusually complete degree of customizing." "Two languages, STATISTICA BASIC and STATISTICA Command Language provide elegant solutions for custom applications." "Basic Statistics offers a capability level above that offered by some complete packages." "As with all sections, the (QC) tools are solid, well designed, reliable, and comprehensive." "The program’s capabilities are too extensive to detail in a short review." (pp. 38-39).
In the recent edition of the Buyer’s Guide published by Quality Digest (December, 1997), practically all Statistical Quality Control Software packages currently available on the market (over 100 products) were rated on 37 (0/1) dimensions (each worth 1 point), divided into three categories:
The following table includes the ratings of STATISTICA Industrial System and its closest competitors.
STATISTICA Industrial System has received the highest total number of points (35 of 37) of all (over 100) compared programs.
In a recent comprehensive technical review and evaluation of the STATISTICA system, the editors of ENTER (a leading Polish computer magazine) stated that the program is a clear "technology leader that has left the competition far behind." STATISTICA is praised for it comprehensiveness, advanced analytic procedures, intelligent and efficient user-interface, and "practically unlimited customizability and expandability." It is also described as "super-fast and its graphical capabilities are awesome." The authors praise the ease of use of the program which "allows to complete all basic operations with just a few clicks of the mouse." In conclusion, "it is hard to imagine anything better. This program is simply ingenious." Editors’ Summary: Pros: Ease of use, responsiveness/speed, unlimited possibilities. Cons: Could not find any.
In a survey conducted recently by the Editor of the Computing and Technology section of the Bulletin of the Ecological Society of Australia, the readers were asked to select the statistics data analysis package of their choice: A brief survey of preferred packages. STATISTICA was rated number one, and as the Editor mentioned: "...notably STATISTICA was acclaimed without reservation by all that used it." The results are reported in the June issue of the journal (pages 108-109).
STATISTICA was evaluated by Scientific Computing World (a leading European scientific computing monthly), and the result is one of the most positive reviews ever published in that magazine. Practically all aspects of STATISTICA have been highly praised, including the power and comprehensiveness of the statistical procedures, graphics, user-interface, and the programmability and expandability of the system. The evaluation is based on the work of a group of reviewers who adopted a real-life testing approach and set up various configurations of the STATISTICA system to complete a number of real data analyses. They concluded that STATISTICA is "unique in the extent to which it eschews compromises" between the comprehensiveness and the ease of use. Also, the reviewers rated very highly "the flexible and effective STATISTICA environment," its "excellent spreadsheet," the power of statistical procedures, where the "Basic Statistics" module alone "offers a level of capability that is in itself above that offered by some complete packages," as well as graphics and drawing which "will tempt some users to abandon free-standing applications."
As the reviewers summarize "Whether numeric or graphic in mode, analysis is thorough, broad, transparent, beautifully flexible and always under a total control of the user. Handling is by a combination of intelligent, self-prompting dialogues (...) logical and intuitive." "Most statistical software ... are ... serving as a specialist component on a desktop built from standard applications. STATISTICA is likely to reverse this, for those teams that can use it to the full, becoming the central core around which the mainstream desktop reorganizes itself. The review group found that by the end of one project, that spreadsheet and database had been reduced to buffers between STATISTICA equivalents and other desktops. Graphics packages became redundant for project related work, with output going directly to word processor, presentation software or DTP. STATISTICA '97 edition is a massive and impressive toolset that redefines software relationships within a statistics-oriented environment." (pp. 37-38).
To the best of our knowledge this is one of the most positive reviews ever published in Scientific Computing World and clearly the most positive review of a statistics software package that has ever appeared in that publication.
STATISTICA has received highest marks in a major review published in CHIP (one of the top German professional computer magazines); the editors praised all aspects of the program including the "unusual comprehensiveness" of the statistical procedures, "impressive selection of graphs," programmability and task automation facilities (e.g., macros), and the "intuitive user interface." Also, it was mentioned that unlike SPSS that offers only the Base module in the German language version, the complete STATISTICA application is available in German (including all specialized modules and the documentation).
The recently released version of SPSS (7.5) has just been reviewed in the Dutch edition of PC Magazine (May, 1997) in comparison to STATISTICA. The reviewer discussed a number of weaknesses of the new SPSS product (many of which correspond to the functionality and technology weaknesses mentioned in our critical evaluations of the competing products), and concluded that SPSS 7.5 is "far behind" and "old fashioned: cannot compete with STATISTICA." (...) "Will they ever be able to catch up?" (page 101).
A survey conducted by SCIENCE (the publication of the American Association for Advancement of Science; circulation: over 150,000) in 1992 and replicated in 1997 of a randomly selected sample of its readers has provided data on how StatSoft, Inc. is perceived by the community of scientists and administrators of science. The following are unedited statements about StatSoft, Inc. and its products volunteered anonymously by the respondents. The data for the surveys, sponsored by SCIENCE magazine, were collected by the Harvey Research Organization, Fairport, New York. The following selection of excerpts has been accepted by SCIENCE for use in this material (reprinted by permission of SCIENCE and Harvey Research Organization):
"StatSoft is a standard in their field. They are leaders." -- Professor, University
"This company [StatSoft] has a great line of statistical software. We do use a lot of their products." -- Research Associate, University
"They [StatSoft] appear to offer excellent software programs." -- Physician, Hospital
"They [StatSoft] offer a wide range of excellent programs. StatSoft is a good company. I use some of their statistical software programs at work, and feel they are very good." -- Chemist, Pharmaceuticals Mfr.
"I hear they [StatSoft] offer a tremendous variety, but I've never looked into it. From what I hear, their products are top quality and reliable." -- Administrator, Research Institute
"This is a good company. They are selling good, quality, premier products. They are a nice company to deal with." -- Sr. Scientist, Health Care Services
"I know this company. They seem to have user-friendly products." -- Professor, University
"They're a company that has a good statistical software package for scientists (...) they have an interesting product." -- Associate Professor, University
"This company has been around for a while and has built itself into a major supplier of statistical and graphics software for research labs. They are rated very highly for product performance. They are a very professional company, and their graphics all come out looking professional. They are also known for accuracy and reliability." -- Research Scientist, Industry
"Their software is rated higher in all comparative reviews of statistics software. It [STATISTICA] is number one." -- Associate Professor, Education
"StatSoft is recognized for their expertise in statistical software. They have received the highest rating in every comparative review of statistical software in which it [STATISTICA] was featured." -- Professor of Biology, University
"StatSoft has a statistics software program [STATISTICA] that we use, and it is a great product. We use it for our data analysis and it works very well for us." -- Assistant Professor, University
"I now use STATISTICA but I did not until recently (did not have appropriate hardware). This works very well for me. StatSoft is a reputable company." -- Professor, University
"I know the company, and have experienced the results of this program. STATISTICA provides many features pertaining to charts, presentations, control, graphics, etc. It's compatible with all the major protocols, is effective, and priced right." -- Health Educator, Industry
"I have heard a lot of good reports about it. It has received the highest rating for statistics software." -- Assistant Professor, University
"I'm familiar with StatSoft. I have heard a lot about STATISTICA in positive terms from other people who have come to us. I understand that STATISTICA is user-friendly, especially for non-computer buffs." -- Microbiologist, Industry
"They [StatSoft] are top quality and there is a wide variety for you to choose from. They are rated very highly for their quality." -- Research Assistant, University
"They [StatSoft] offer you the software you need to add life to your statistics. You can make all kinds of graphs and charts that are professional looking as well as being accurate and reliable." -- Research Assistant, University
"I have heard of this but haven't personally used it." -- Research Assistant, University
"We have a site license for it [STATISTICA], so it's widely used here. I use this product and it's worked pretty well for me. It has met my needs. It does not have a real steep learning curve that some other statistics packages have. This [STATISTICA] is more interactive oriented and most experimenters want interactive oriented software rather than batch oriented programs. I have found that this [STATISTICA] is fun to play with." -- Chief of Biomathematics, Research Center
In a comprehensive technical review published in PC Magazin (a leading German computer magazine), STATISTICA was highly praised for its statistical prowess and comprehensiveness that did not sacrifice the ease of use of the program. Practically all aspects of STATISTICA mentioned in the evaluation received the highest marks. In summary, the editors stated that "STATISTICA has enormous capabilities concerning statistical and graphical functions, without devaluing this capability with complicated user interface. Just the opposite: The program surprises by offering its users a short learning curve and great flexibility. The intuitive user interface, comprehensive help, clear results tables, multiple graphical displays, and comfortable text and graphics displays make this an attractive and complete solution for Industry and Science." (page 141).
STATISTICA has received the Reader’s Choice Award and the highest rating in a reader survey conducted by Scientific Computing and Automation (a leading US scientific computing monthly). STATISTICA was trailed by SAS (second place) and SPSS (third place). (Note that the readers of Scientific Computing and Automation know STATISTICA only from other sources than that specific magazine because StatSoft products have not been advertised in that publication since 1993.)
In a recent technical review and evaluation of the STATISTICA system, the BYTE reviewer gave his highest marks to the "completeness and statistical comprehensiveness" of STATISTICA, to its "ability to analyze even large datasets" and the excellent graphics "with impeccable presentation and editing options" "leaving behind even programs that specialize in statistical graphics, like Statgraphics." The author was impressed with the Electronic Manual and refers to it as a "true encyclopedia of statistics." He recommends STATISTICA for both statisticians and "industrial and commercial users." On a four-point scale (*** - Excellent, ** - Good, * - Average, o - Deficient), STATISTICA received the highest (three-star) rating on the dimensions of "Statistical Content" [comprehensiveness], "Calculation Potential" [speed and the ability to handle large datasets], and "Graphics."
The January, 1997 issue of Statistical Papers / Statistische Hefte (a scientific journal published in English and in German by the German statistical association) includes an article by U. Bankhofer and A. Hilbert reporting an analytic comparative study of computer statistics packages. Multidimensional scaling has been used to summarize data from 369 evaluative dimensions on which the packages were rated and tested (reduced to 67 variables). The final solution identified 4 dimensions: (1) numerical accuracy, (2) comprehensiveness (i.e., variety of statistical procedures), (3) quality of graphics, and (4) price. The following graph, reproduced from the article, summarizes the MDS results (the red highlight of STATISTICA has been added):
As shown in the graph, STATISTICA has received the highest score on the composite dimensions of numerical accuracy, comprehensiveness, and quality of graphics (compared to SPSS, S-Plus, Systat, Unistat, Statgraphics, Winstat, and Sigmastat).
STATISTICA has received the Reader’s Choice Award and the highest rating (among statistics software packages) in a reader survey conducted byTechnical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities. STATISTICA was trailed by SPSS, Systat, Minitab, and S-Plus. (Note that the readers of Technical Analysis of Stocks and Commodities know STATISTICA only from other sources than that specific magazine since StatSoft products have never been advertised in that publication.)
In a recent article entitled "Comparing Methods of Measurement" (Clinical and Experimental Pharmacology and Physiology, 1997, 24, 197-203), Dr. John Ludbrook has compared the nonlinear estimation procedures, and in particular the precision of estimation of parameters, their standard errors and confidence intervals in three Windows statistics software packages: SPSS, Systat, and STATISTICA. In the benchmarks, all three packages produced correct values of the regression coefficients but only STATISTICA produced correct standard errors and confidence intervals and was recommended to be used for this type of analysis.