I recall we discussed the problem before about the ease of distributing
pdfs. I don't think it differs greatly from the free sharing of
photocopies of chapters from SAS manuals I saw as a student and teacher
"Say, can I make a copy of the logistic chapter?" I now have a CD with
the complete SAS manuals which is not expensive, takes up virtually no
room on the shelf, and is wonderful to use since I can search it.
I don't claim to be one of StataCorp's accountants. However, one difference
might be that SAS itself is very expensive for academics, and even more
expensive for the drug companies, which allegedly cross-subsidise the
provision of SAS for academics.
