Enterprise Guide has been there for some time, but have a look at the WPS interface . It is the Apple -like design. Like I said ....WPS gives away 1 month evaluation period free.....

http://www.teamwpc.co.uk/products/wps/compare

On 5/20/08, Keintz, H. Mark <mkeintz@wharton.upenn.edu> wrote: > If you take a look at where SAS is positioning itself: a "solutions" > vendor instead of a "tools" vendor, then maybe SAS is not going to > respond to price pressure from WPS as much as you hope. > > Any enterprise assessing SAS vs competition will want to evaluate > numerous issues. Here are three: > > 1. SAS server technologies, including SAS/share, scalable parallel > data server, several database engines. > > 2. User interface tools: SAS enterprise guide and BI dashboard, which > presumably will take away the programming burden from users who are > program-scripting-challenged. > > 3. Special economic sector software and standards: ETS, GIS, CDISC > > > So those of us (and I include myself) who would like to see > significantly reduced prices for commercial users of SAS should probably > not put too much stake in WPS as creating much pressure for reducing SAS > software prices by more than, say 20%. It will probably allow some > users to put the equivalent of Base SAS and SAS/STAT on some Windows > workstations (especially once WPS has a SAS/connect equivalent) but it > might not affect the overall software strategy of large enterprises. > > And remember, users at educational institutions have no price incentive > to leave SAS for WPS. Also SAS is now offering SODA (software on demand > for academics), an environment in which users run Entrerprise Guide > against a server run by SAS, removing the software installation and > maintenance burden from academic users. The result is that SAS become > more attractive in the classroom (i.e. it will reach beyond those grad > students trying to do their data management and analyses using > "traditional" SAS programs). If this creative initiative succeeds, > there will be a lot more SAS **users** coming out of universities than > SAS **programmers**. That won't favor WPS. > > Nevertheless, there will be demand for WPS. It just may not matter to > SAS Institute. > > Regards, > Mark > > > >> -----Original Message----- >> From: SAS(r) Discussion [mailto:SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of >> ohri2007@GMAIL.COM >> Sent: Tuesday, May 20, 2008 4:03 AM >> To: SAS-L@LISTSERV.UGA.EDU >> Subject: Re: WPS Release 2.3 and some SAS & WPS Price Comparisons on >> >> But r statistical procedures are vetted thoroughly .wps really works >> for data shaping and aggregation. Calculating means , std deviations >> isnt rocket science .sas inc of course has a loyal following in the >> sugi network but at ten times the price ,sas wont make that make that >> much business sense. Unlike sas, wps gives away a free 1 month >> evaluation trial , which should take care of any customized >> benchmarking. Not sure if macros run on wps though....and at ten times >> the price , macros arent that free anymore :) >> >> On 5/20/08, RolandRB <rolandberry@hotmail.com> wrote: >> > On May 20, 4:39 am, ohri2...@GMAIL.COM wrote: >> >> Phil, >> >> >> >> The price comparisons are really useful. It is amazing to see WPS > is >> >> `15 times less expensive in 1 year and nearly 10 times less >> expensive >> >> than Base SAS over 3 years. >> >> >> >> There should be no reason to continue with base SAS server >> >> installations after this definitive analysis for people engaged in >> >> data intensive jobs, especially for price sensitive jobs. >> >> >> >> Think of it, as lower software costs may mean 1 more job retained > at >> >> your company. >> >> >> >> The WPS interface is also much superior rather than the same old >> >> enhanced (?) editor of SAS and its easy to shift to given that >> exactly >> >> the same language is used. >> >> >> >> However the lack of comparable to SAS /STAT is a definitive > weakness >> >> for modelers (even though nearly all data summarizing procs are >> >> included). >> >> >> >> Here your bridge to R may be useful, even though I directly use the >> >> GUI for R (being free..and click and actually more comparable to >> >> SPSS). >> >> >> >> Given the huge number of SAS licenses used primarily in low end > data >> >> crunching jobs in Indian outsourcing sector which is very very > price >> >> sensitive , I might not be surprised if SAS Inc retaliates if WPS >> >> picks up more steam. >> >> >> >> Regards, >> >> >> >> Ajay >> >> >> >> www.decisionstats.com >> >> >> >> On 5/20/08, Phil Rack <PhilR...@minequest.com> wrote: >> >> >> >> >> >> >> >> > I've been meaning to post this for a few days now but it seems to >> keep >> >> > slipping my mind. Anyway, WPS has just released version 2.3 of >> their SAS >> >> > language compatible system. This release seems to be mostly aimed >> at the >> >> > mainframe market with a number of performance updates. There's >> also some >> >> > additions to the WorkBench (Eclipse IDE) which adds > auto-indenting >> to >> >> > the >> >> > script editor among other things. Looking through the What's New >> section >> >> > of >> >> > the Readme.txt file the other entry that has caught my eye is the >> >> > support >> >> > for hot-spotting in GChart using html. >> >> >> >> > Finally, I've put together a Cost Comparison of WPS and SAS on a >> Windows >> >> > Server. For those who are interested, you can view this PDF at >> TinyURL: >> >> >http://tinyurl.com/4ea7t8 >> >> >> >> > or the full URL at: >> >> >> >>http://www.minequest.com/downloads/Pricing_Comparisons_Between_WPS_an. >> .. >> >> > df >> >> >> >> > Phil Rack >> >> >> >> >www.minequest.com- Hide quoted text - >> >> >> >> - Show quoted text - >> > >> > It would be good to see a thorough comparison of functionality. >> > Companies aren't going to change over to WPS unless conversion is >> > feasible. most companies have a huge investment in macros in their >> > legacy systems and I would not know if these would work with WPS. In >> > the Clinical field, the stats procedures in SAS are trusted through >> > many years of use. Even if WPS added the same stats procedures, >> nobody >> > would trust them. >> > >