In our last PS article we discussed the vicissitudes of statistics package purchasing. Our focus was on low and mid priced products. We found a much wider variation in performance and quality than is seen in more popular programs sold to the business market for word processing, data base management, or spreadsheet work. This variation and the associated possibility of buying a package that does not meet one's needs makes statistical software selection especially difficult. Statistics packages are not commonly found in retail outlets so that in-store trials cannot be made. Reviews and articles can narrow the field, but the user is still obliged to carefully study manufacturers' specifications and to discuss particular needs with company technicians by telephone.

We determined that for a large majority of users the moderately priced SYSTAT was the best choice unless menus or high quality presentation graphics were required. A new graphics module corrects the latter problem. If one's data base is within 64 K, STATGRAPHICS with its wealth of statistical techniques, menu driven ease of use, and its superb graphics was also recommended as was the inexpensive NCSS.