Re: st: RE: Stata 9 announcement

[Richard Williams <Richard.A.Williams.5@nd.edu>]

At 09:58 AM 4/5/2005 -0400, Steichen, Thomas J. wrote:
> It is with some curiosity that I note that previous such announcements
> have led to an immediate and wide-ranging discussion on Statalist,
> yet this message was met with thunderous silence.  My question is why?
I have to admit that, with some exceptions, most of the new statistical 
stuff relates to things I have never used, probably will never use, and 
would not know how to use if I had to!  But I imagine that for those who 
need and use those techniques this is very good news.

The cost of the program is no  big deal (at least if you qualify for 
academic pricing) - it is the cost of the documentation that adds up.  My 
inclination is to just buy every manual there is, but I wonder how 
necessary that really is?  Has anybody seen the new manuals; for things 
like the reference guide, do they offer enough new to warrant buying them 
if you have the v. 8 manuals?

I am curious what the implications are for -gllamm-.  Will it be faster 
now?  Will Stata now have built-in alternatives to much of its 
features?  I've avoided -gllamm- partly because I heard that, while it was 
a great program, it could be unbearably slow.  Speeding up -gllamm- seemed 
to be a frequent request on this list; does V. 9 address this at all?

I will probably buy everything, including manuals, for much the same 
reasons that Thomas will; but there wasn't anything in the announcement 
that really wowed me (at least not yet.)

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