However, it also has some point and click interfaces. R is not just a statistical package, but a comprehensive computing environment for data analysis and statistics. I mean R uses primarily the command line and the user would need to be able write R functions and r scripts in order to take full advantage of R's advanced features. Thank you for your suggestion but what do you mean that he needs to learn how to program?Īlso, please note that I have used nor heard of these programs, I am just trying to help him :) There are also some java-based data mining tools that are cross platform, but I can't remember their names at this point. R has a nice IDE (also FOSS) called Rstudio, you can download the.

There is a (several?) point and click interface, but I wouldn't recommend it as it is very primitive and you get the most out of R by programming. Only catch is you need to learn to program. Since R is also one of the best software for datamining and analytics I would definitely say go for R. Then of course SPSS and STATA run natively in Linux, but cost a lot $$$. Unfortunately you have to compile it if you use Ubuntu because the repo version is out of date and is missing some important new features from ver 8.1 (logistic regression is the biggie) But it is easy to compile and the website gives step by step instructions.

If R is overkill and your friend doesn't feel like programming s/he can try pspp (which is more of a learning tool than a production one IMO). It is in the repository, or you can get up to date version from ppa. It is used by some industrial heavy weight like google. It is FOSS, powerful and is expanding rapidly. Do people still use Minitab? The statistical computation package of choice today is definitely R.

Minitab 16 for mac