Re: st: Stata 13 ships June 24

["William Gould, StataCorp LP" <wgould@stata.com>]

Here are some answers to questions about Stata 13 that have appeared on
Statalist:

    Q1.  "Am I to understand that printed documentation is no longer
         available?  Just PDF?"

    A1.  Yes, that's right.  We intend to look into print-on-demand if
         there is interest.


    Q2.  Regarding -gsem- and -gllamm:  "How much faster are we talking
         about here? Is it a factor of 2, a factor of 5, a factor of
         100?"

    A2.  It is always risky to quantify these things but, in our
         experience, -gsem- is at least four times faster, usually is
         is 10 to 100 times faster, and we have examples where -gsem-
         is 1,000 times faster.


    Q3.  "Seems the cost of Stata now includes an optional maintenance
         fee? It would be nicer if plain English were use to explain
         why the fee is to my benefit and when it might not be (in the
         development cycle). Does the new fee indicate Stata Corp is
         moving to a longer development cycle?

    A3.  The cost of Stata does *NOT* include an optional maintenance
         fee.  Maintenance is optional.

         Maintenance allows you pay an annual charge and receive the
         next release of Stata (Stata 14) automatically and without 
         extra charage.  Many companies and instutitions prefer a 
         predictable annual cost.  We have always offered via a lease, 
         but maintenance lets you combine an annual fee with a perpetual 
         license.
         
         Concerning the length of the development cycle, we have no
         plans to lengthen it, although we have yet to hold our first
         meeting on Stata 14.

-- Bill
wgould@stata.com
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