Re: [libreplanet-discuss] Microsoft and a version of R

[J.B. Nicholson-Owens]

Andrés Muñiz Piniella wrote:
> So MS excel is looking to imitate gnumeric which already consults
> with R project to get accurate statistics? Why would they need to buy
> company to do this? Or did I miss something?

In order to legally distribute a non-free, user-subjugating program 
compatible with R, Microsoft will need to either develop that software 
anew or acquire an organization that has already done this work (such as 
what Tibco claims to have done). Perhaps Microsoft chose the latter 
because it's cheaper & faster for them to buy a non-free R 
implementation instead of developing their own. Naturally, this would 
all hinge on Tibco's work not being a derivative of GNU R, or being 
licensed to them such that Tibco could change the license to whatever 
they want.

Any organization looking to defend the conclusions they reach using R, 
or protect the security of their systems running R would be wise to keep 
using GNU R and dismiss the language found in 
http://spotfire.tibco.com/blog/?p=29291 out of hand for not providing 
software freedom (which is, of course, of value unto itself). Just like 
in any other program, software freedom grants GNU R users opportunities 
non-free software doesn't.