R is to SAS as Java is to COBOL

An interview with Revolution Analytics CEO Dave Rich was published this week by BeyeNetwork. During the interview, Dace was asked about how the statistical modeling platforms have changed over the decades:

People have been doing statistical modeling and predictive analytics for 50 years now, SAS and SPSS have been around since the early ‘70s. What’s different now — what’s making this move toward other statistical and “big data” areas?

David Rich: Well, I think obviously SAS and SPSS have been around, as you pointed out, for decades. We call that sort of the first generation of analytics and insight-driven solutions. In my perspective, having been in the business for more than three decades, it reminds me a bit of what COBOL was back in the day relative to business software. I see R as the more modern language. In this analogy, R would represent Java or C++. What happened in the middle of the nineties when the shift occurred is very similar to where we are now with R. Open source is a worldwide collaboration innovation. It’s a way to tap into that channel for research, and I think the role that Revolution Analytics can play – very similar to what Red Hat did back in the Linux days – is to be the conduit between the community and enterprise deployment.

The conversation also touched on the future of big data analytics, impact of advanced analytics on business, and the benefits of R and Revolution R Enteprise to reduce costs and expand the scope of possibility with big data analytics. For the complete interview, follow the link below.

BeyeNetwork: Advanced Analytics, Big Data and the Power of R: A Q&A Spotlight with David Rich, CEO of Revolution Analytics