"We have customers who build engines for aircraft. I am happy they are not using freeware when I get on a jet." - Ugh, SAS isn't about science, it's about administration.
Our largest fund and most profitable fund (around $US 25B), which includes some our of brightest people, which uses the Linux server infrastructure I design, also uses R and Python.
Trades are made based on the models created in these languages by our research teams. Our traders simply execute what our researchers models tell them to, when the model tells them to.
So both R and Python are fundamental parts of our business without which our best products could not function.
We don't use freeware either, as neither R, Python, or Linux are freeware. They are licensed software, with OSD compatible licenses.
Can the traders be eliminated? Why pay them if all they do is carry out orders? (I am asking sincerely)
My guess is largely, they can be. The actual trades could be automated (this would become increasingly necessary with rapid-fire [millisecond] trading, which we don't do now but could in future). The meatware oversight could be consolidated to a smaller group of individuals.
Actually for critical control software, I want it to be boring and simple.
However, the argument is still obviously laughable.
“I think it addresses a niche market for high-end data analysts that want free, readily available code," said Anne H. Milley, director of technology product marketing at SAS. She adds, “We have customers who build engines for aircraft. I am happy they are not using freeware when I get on a jet.”
Wow, is that a FUD statement if I ever heard one. Pretty cyncial stuff from Anne H. Milley.
But the person he's quoting, like you, confuses Open Source software / Free Software with freeware, which is generally considered to be unlicensed or public domain software.
These people are not dumb.