The Meaning of R for Science and Industry

In FastcoLabs:   Thoughtful piece about open source and science.  I am in the midst of looking at packages for the application of data modeling and mining capabilities.   This project will not need to be inserted into an enterprise solution, or integrated with current enterprise infrastructure.  In the past I would have used a license I had, or as needed acquired a new one.  But as an independent, this is the first time I have become more comfortable than ever in using an open source platform like R.  Science in academia has discovered this too.  R is being taught and used there.  Students emerging from school know it.   New ideas are being developed in it.  Software companies are also making sure that you can use R developments from their offerings.   It has become a common tool for science.