David,
Stata sounds perfect for the kind of work you do. It is fast,
powerful and backed by outstanding tech support. I use both Stata and
SPSS (I work mostly with household survey data) and from my
experience Stata can do everything that SPSS does, with one
exception: the SPSS Tables module produces better tables. The graphs
in Stata 8 take longer to produce than in Stata 7 but you can still
produce Stata 7 graphs for quick checks; future updates are likely to
narrow this gap. The new point-and-click interface makes Stata easier
to learn than before but to fully exploit its capabilities you need
the manuals. I think you will be happy with Stata - if not, there is
a money-back guarantee.
Friedrich Huebler
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