wugcrc@wums.wustl.edu (10/04/90)
I have been a SAS user for 10 years now, on all kinds of platforms. Re- cently, I installed PC-SAS on a number of MS-DOS boxes, giving me the chance to see how my favorite SAS software has responded to the challenge of using the greater graphics power of the PC. In a word, pitiful. SAS's latest release, v. 6.0x, has the laudable objective of making the user interfaces to SAS be the same, no matter what the platform. The problem with this is that they have reduced the interface to the least common graphic denominator; i.e., the graphics equivalent of a vt100 running off a mainframe. An exception, however, is the Mac, for which they have produced a new product for the express purpose of data visualization. It's great. Why not, I ask, a port for the Amiga? Consider: 1) A substantial number of users on this net, as well as in my local Amiga club, are in scientific fields (medicine, engineering, computer science, etc.). We would all like to be able to use some of the tools we use at work on the Amiga. 2) SAS has recently been completely rewritten in C. 3) SAS recently acquired Lattice C! 4) Putting out a port for the Amiga would seem to be pretty trivial, given the above. 5) In these days of further and further budget crunches, especially in the life sciences, researchers are always looking for ways to save money on com- puting power. Even with the lack of well-known scientific software, the Amiga has a respectable showing in labs throughout the country. 6) A port to the Amiga by SAS could be advantageous to SAS in another way: It would be a chance to put SAS out on a low-cost platform (say, a 3000?) and really let the interface designers put in everything they ever dreamed of with- out being MS-DOSSED into a corner. Comments are welcome. Having written this, I believe that I'm going to clean it up and send a copy to SAS institute. For any of you who are inter- ested, their address is: Director SAS Institute Inc. SAS Circle Box 8000 Cary, NC 27512-8000 Maybe if we get enough cards and letters coming in, SAS could see a profitable niche materialize before their astonished eyes. Here's hoping! Dan Flasar General Clinical Research Center Washington University School of Med St. Louis, MO
paulz@hpspdra.HP.COM (Paul Zander) (10/12/90)
What I would like to see is an antenna modeling program. There are several for messy dos. The most powerful in called mininec, which is a "mini" version of a program called nec originally written for a main frame computer. I believe that was done at the Navel Post-graduate School in Monterey. Any way, mininec is being used by a number of radio amateurs.