Could you please share a link to the NY Times article? Is it about OSS in general or specific to R?
Thanks Michael Michael Bibo wrote: > Daniel Viar <dan.viar <at> gmail.com> writes: > > >> I currently use R at work "under the radar", but there's a chance I >> could loose that access. I'd like to get our company to feel >> comfortable with open source and R in particular. Does anyone have >> any experience with their company's IT department and management that >> they would be willing to share? How does one get an all Microsoft >> shop on board with allowing users to user R? I know about the recent >> NY Times article and recent news. I'm afraid I may need some case >> studies or examples of what other companies have done. >> >> Any help would be greatly appreciated. >> >> Thanks >> Dan Viar >> Chesapeake, VA >> >> ______________________________________________ >> R-help <at> r-project.org mailing list >> https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help >> PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html >> and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. >> >> >> > Just my opinions from my own experience... > > Don't talk to just anyone in your IT department, but try to identify someone > who a) has some authority/decision-making power; and b) is likely to be > somewhat OSS knowledgable/tolerant/keen. > > Go through proper procedures. In my organisation, there is a specific > process > for approval of software. I filled in appropriate forms and provided > supporting documentation such as: > > http://www.r-project.org/doc/R-FDA.pdf > copy of the GPL and references such as http://www.groklaw.net/article.php? > story=2008081313212422 > R installation and administration manual > NY Times article > > I also made futher points about the extensive use of R in peer-reviewed > journals such as JSS, and the superiority of the email help list and archives > over the support offered for most proprietary products (with specific > examples). > > Most of this is to make it abundantly clear that you are talking about a > quality, open-source product, not some small piece of freeware developed by > an > individual. > > I have found two main types of IT concerns. Firstly, they are appropriately > concerned about licensing issues. You need to reinforce that, though free, > it > is licensed - under the GPL. Secondly, they may have concerns simply because > it is not the existing/approved/supported norm in your organisation. I have > found that it is important here to make it clear that you will not be > expecting them to 'support' the software in the sense of helping you learn to > use it (which is often the case for office-type software and its users in > organisations). > > And if all else fails, and your organisation's policies refer to 'installing' > software, you can always run it portably, even from an external drive (at > least in a Windows environment). > > Ultimately, though, I think the thing that helped most to convince our IT > department to let me try R was when they themselves had the nightmare of > dealing with the licensing and accounts division of a certain well-known > statistical package proprietor. > > Michael Bibo > Queensland Health > > ______________________________________________ > R-help@r-project.org mailing list > https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help > PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html > and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code. > [[alternative HTML version deleted]] ______________________________________________ R-help@r-project.org mailing list https://stat.ethz.ch/mailman/listinfo/r-help PLEASE do read the posting guide http://www.R-project.org/posting-guide.html and provide commented, minimal, self-contained, reproducible code.
