S-PLUS

Historical timeline

In 1988, S-PLUS was first developed and released by a Seattle-based start-up company called Statistical Sciences, Inc. The company's founder and sole owner was R. Douglas Martin, professor of statistics at the University of Washington, Seattle. Martin originally learned S while working at Bell Laboratories, where the S language was originally developed. At the time of its release, S-PLUS was one of the first examples of software that implemented algorithms for generalized linear models, second to GLIM.

Statistical Sciences acquired the exclusive license to distribute S and merged with MathSoft in 1993, becoming the firm's Data Analysis Products Division (DAPD).

In 1995, S-PLUS 3.3 for Windows 95/NT was released, including the Matrix library, command history capability, and Trellis graphics. This was followed by the release of S-PLUS 3.4 for UNIX in 1996. This version included a non-linear mixed-effects modeling library, hexagonal binning, and cluster methods. S-PLUS 4 was released for Windows in 1997, with features such as an updated GUI, integration with Excel, and editable graphics. S-PLUS 4.5 for Windows in 1998, with Scatterplot brushing, and the ability to create S-PLUS graphs from within Excel & SPSS. The software also became available for Linux & Solaris.

In 1999, S-PLUS 5 was released for Solaris, Linux, HP-UX, AIX, IRIX, and DEC Alpha. S-PLUS 2000 for Windows. 3.3, quality control charting, and new commands for data manipulation. This was followed by S-PLUS 6 for Linux/Unix in 2000. This version had a Java-based GUI, Graphlets, survival5, and a library for handling missing data.

In 2001, MathSoft sold its Cambridge-based Engineering and Education Products Division (EEPD), was renamed Insightful Corporation, and moved headquarters to Seattle. This essentially reversed the previous merger between MathSoft and Statistical Sciences, Inc. S-PLUS Analytic Server 2.0. S-PLUS 6 was released for Windows in 2001.

In 2002, StatServer 6 was released and the student edition of S-PLUS became free. S-PLUS 6.2 was released and ported to AIX. In 2004, Insightful purchased the S language from Lucent Technologies for $2 million, and released S+ArrayAnalyzer 2.0.

S-PLUS 7.0 was released in 2005, including the BigData library for working with larger-than-memory data sets and the S-PLUS Workbench (Eclipse development tool). Insightful Miner 7.0 was also released. In 2007, S-PLUS 8 was released with a new package system, language extensions for R package compatibility, and a workbench debugger.

TIBCO acquired Insightful Corporation for $25 million in 2008.

References

References

1. (2009-06-25). "Palgrave Handbook of Econometrics: Volume 2: Applied Econometrics". Springer.
2. "What Makes TIBCO Enterprise Runtime for R (TERR) Unique?".
3. (2005-12-16). "Encyclopedia of Statistical Sciences, Volume 12". John Wiley & Sons.
4. (2015-12-16). "R in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself". Sams Publishing.
5. (2002-07-30). "Generalized Estimating Equations". CRC Press.
6. (2013-03-09). "S Programming". Springer Science & Business Media.
7. [https://web.archive.org/web/20010303113409/http://www.insightful.com/news/insightful.html MATHSOFT SELLS ENGINEERING AND EDUCATION PRODUCTS DIVISION; COMPANY APPOINTS NEW CEO AND CHANGES NAME TO INSIGHTFUL]
8. [https://web.archive.org/web/20080914153015/http://tibco.com/company/news/releases/2008/press924.jsp TIBCO Completes Acquisition of Insightful Corporation], press release, TIBCO Software Inc., September 3, 2008.