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Systat and SPSS/PC+ have for many years led the pack in our comparisons of DOS-based PC statistical packages. But, like most DOS packages, they began to look slightly long in the tooth with text-based interfaces and clumsy links with their graphics capabilities. SPSS Inc. made the leap to Windows last year and did so impressively. (See review, September 21, 1992, page 108.) Now it's Systat Inc.'s turn to play its Windowscard.
Systat for Windows was released last fall but shipped only to a select number of "long-term customers," according to the company. Version 5.01, which we review here, incorporates changes made during that limited release.
Happily, Systat for Windows retains all the numerical prowess that made Systat for DOS the consistent winner in all of our previous comparisons. It is an omnibus package that provides most of the statistical routines that most users would ever want. And its graphics, which have always been at the forefront among statistical packages for the PC, are now easier to produce and, thanks to Windows, better integrated with numerical output. As we worked with Systat for Windows, our only concerns were that it could have gone further in implementing what Windows offers in both ease of use and data capacity.
We evaluated Systat for Windows with the testing criteria used for the February 26, 1990, product comparison of statistical software (page 59).
Our test platform for Systat for Windows was a 496 VESA Local Bus PC running Windows 3.1 under MS-DOS 6.0, with 8MB of RAM, Diamond Stealth 24 VLB local bus video card, and a Hewlett-Packard LaserJet II printer.
FEATURES:
When you start Systat for Windows, you are greeted by the large main window, a scrolling Teletype-like text window that will reassure long-term users of Systat for DOS. You can enter very nearly the same Systat commands as always and see the same responses to the commands.
Here's where you will notice a little secret about Systat for Windows. As in SPSS for Windows, all of the fancy Windows stuff is a shell around good old command-oriented Systat, with a few differences. Using menus and dialog boxes to supply commands probably adds unnecessary code and processing time, but there's a good side, too. Systat for DOS users...