Like it or not, StataCorp has invested
a vast amount in its documentation for sale and wholesale
duplication of the manuals for open access just is not
likely. We can all agree that it would be useful if it
were there, but it is not going to happen. That's my
guess, at least.
.. and in fact we can do better than guess. As Nick will remember, Bill G
himself told us at last year's Australian and New Zealand Stata Users
meeting that StataCorp had no intention of releasing electronic versions of
the manuals. He was quite adamant on this point. It did not seem to be a
matter of price - more a matter of protecting Stata's IP rights in a world
of illegal copying/piracy etc. Bill did suggest though that the help files
might contain more content - the graphics help was cited as an example of
the way Stata was heading. Presumably that SAS provides a CD version of
manuals and Stata does not reflects the different business models of the
two companies.
