IBM SPSS

Today I attended a free presentation of SPSS software (IBM announced its intention to acquire SPSS last year, with the deal closing last month). I had difficulty locating it. I asked Google maps to find "6001 South Willow Street" in Denver, instead of "6001 South Willow Drive" in Greenwood Village, as I should have. Still, Google put my Denver address just south of Union Street, which upon reflection makes no sense. When I drove to the place that Google identified I found a residence.

Only four attendees showed, out what appeared to be, based on a count of name cards, about ten reservations. After I signed up a few weeks ago I received a call and an email telling me that "space was limited" and asking me to verify my attendance. I do not think it was true that space was limited; rather, IBM did not want to fly a presenter to Denver to speak to an empty room.

I was quite impressed with the software, compared to the product I have been using: JMP by SAS. I'm told that is because SAS is not attempting to compete against SPSS with its JMP product; rather, SAS has Enterprise Miner.

IBM ordered lunch for everyone with a reservation, rather than just the attendees. I do not know what happened to the extra food. Hopefully IBM distributed it to the other tenants in the building.