The problem … but of course, when I recently received an SPSS.

So all in all, despite the horrible marketing, the rental licences, the eagerness to split statistical functionality into countless shrink-wrapped and separately sold modules, I do have a soft spot for the old warhorse, and it still evokes some of the joy of standard errors I felt when we met the first time… In this context, the SPSS manuals were rather helpfully didactic, with interesting example data, the graphical user interface reasonably reasonable, and even the principle of “everything and the kitchen sink” in terms of statistics available in the menus was useful in that it would make a young statistician consult his Agresti in some depth. Consequently, I had to re-think a lot of theory for myself in order to be able to present a consistent and convincing story to my students, so that the course was a real education for me (as well as for them, hopefully). This was the first time I had to explain statistical concepts to people with little or nor formal training, but (as a rule) very real data analysis problems. Background I admit I have a certain weakness for SPSS: I have used it extensively during my first university job (when R was still at version 0.63) and more importantly, the first course I was fully responsible for was an SPSS course for graduate students.