This raises various interesting questions. They are
perhaps rhetorical rather than literal.
Specifically, for users of Stata, how important in
your decision to adopt was any advertising for Stata?
Would you have adopted earlier given more visible
advertising?
... for non-users of Stata, especially friends or
colleagues you know who would benefit from Stata,
would they really change their minds if Stata
started advertising through Google?
... for anyone, how many serious software choices
do you make based largely or even partly on advertising?
I can't avoid a sceptical undertone here. 15-20 years
ago, I made some software purchasing decisions based partly on
advertising and reviews in various computer monthlies,
but no longer. In fact I now tend to react _negatively_
to statistical software adverts!
I think it's a matter of fact that StataCorp does
not advertise very heavily, at least in media I see.
On the whole, that seems a good way not to use valuable
income.
Generally, it is always striking how many of us, myself
certainly included, feel at liberty to pontificate on
matters like this in the absence of any hard data!
Nick
[email protected]
David Airey
... Stata may not be marketed aggressively enough;
I have never seen a Google Stata ad for example,
but I've seen other company ads.
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