Tech news site The Register has just published an in-depth profile of Revolution Analytics. It was great meeting the author Dan Olds at Revolution HQ a couple of weeks ago, and sharing with him why we think the R language is the way forward for data science: modern, applied, large-scale statistical analysis. He captures that sentiment perfectly in the article:

To me, as a layman, the easiest way to understand the difference between R (and Revolution R) and industry stalwarts such as SAS or SPSS is to realize that R is a statistical language, while the others are applications. This difference has a profound effect on what can be done and how quickly and easily it can be accomplished. SAS and SPSS are big and powerful, but as applications, they are black boxes…

We’re not just talking about execution speed here; we’re also talking about analyst productivity. With R, it’s quicker to set up analytical routines and much quicker to run multiple routines, or shift to different analytical techniques on the fly. The value of this is hard to quantify, of course, but it is significant. In the right circumstances, it could be profound.

Read the rest of the profile at The Register at the link below.

The Register: 'R' is for Revolution Analytics