Microcomputer software of interest to forecasters in comparative review: updated again

Robert S. Rycroft*, Department of Economics, Mary Washington College, Fredericksburg, VA 22401, USA

Reprinted from International Journal of Forecasting Vol. 15 (1999), pp. 93-120, with permission from Elsevier Science

Keywords: Microcomputer software; Forecasting; Comparative review

  1. Introduction

    2. Computer software is an essential resource used by forecasters, but it is an ever-changing resource. To help forecasters keep abreast of changes, this journal has periodically published a comparative review of a large proportion of the microcomputer forecasting software universe. This paper is a second update of a review that was originally published in 1989 (Rycroft, 1989). The first update was published in 1993 (Rycroft, 1993).

    Compared to the 1993 update, the current review has several new features. One is that it restricts the universe to programs that run under Windows 95™ or will run under windows 98™, or whatever the next version of the industry standard will be called. Second, a bibliography of recently published individual reviews of the software has been included. This should offset some of the unavoidable shortcomings of a comparative review of a large number of programs. Third, e-mail addresses and Web sites for the vendors have been included for the first time. Only one vendor lacks an e-mail address. Only two lack Web sites.

    The microcomputer software universe has shrunk some since the 1993 paper. That paper listed 103 programs from 57 companies. The current paper lists 51 programs from 33 companies. Twenty seven of the companies are hold-overs from the earlier paper. Six are new. There are several reasons for the shrinkage. For one thing, not all the programs listed in 1993 have made the migration to Windows 95™. Second, there have been some mergers and acquisitions. Third, some vendors have conceded that their wares are not really "authentic" forecasting programs. Fourth, many vendors could not be contacted. Presumably most of these vendors are out of business. Fifth, there was more reluctance to participate on the part of some vendors this time around.

    The source of information for the tables was a questionnaire that vendors were asked to fill out. In all cases, the vendor’s own evaluation of its program’s capabilities was used. As the first footnote indicates, to limit transcription errors, each vendor was given an opportunity to review an earlier draft of the paper.

    Section 2 provides company information. Sections 3, 4 and 5 list various forecasting, econometric and statistical analysis techniques. To interpret the results, some discussion of how this data was obtained is in order. Vendors were asked the question about capabilities two ways. First, is the software "optimized" for the technique? Second, should "the software be one of the top choices of forecasters who work with that type of model?" The techniques listed were chosen because they are both widely-used by practitioners and widely-taught by forecasting educators. In most cases, the techniques listed cannot do justice to all the capabilities of the software. It should also be noted that not every program tries to be all things to all forecasters. Sections 6-10 describe other features of the programs. Section 11 is a bibliography of published reviews that more fully describe individual programs.

    Readers are urged to consult individual reviews and web pages before making purchase decisions.

  2. Company Information

ID

Software

Version

Company

1

2

Modler

Modler Blue

7.68

7.68

Alphametrics Corporation, PO Box 2566, Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004-6566, USA, Ph: +1 610 6640386, e-mail: 74242.2260@compuserve.com http://www.alphametrics.co.uk

3

Statistix for Windows

1.00

Analytical Software, PO Box 12185, Tallahassee, FL 32317, USA, Ph: +1 850 8939371, Fax: +1 850 8041134, e-mail: statistix@compuserve.com

4

5

ABStat

WEBSURV

1.93

Anderson Bell Corp., PO Box 745160, Arvada, CO 80006, USA, Ph: +1 800 7459751, Fax: +1 303 9400595, e-mail: ABELL@RMII.COM, http://www.andersonbell.com

6

GAUSS Programming Language

GAUSS Applications

 

Aptech Systems, 23804 SE Kent-Kangley Rd., Maple Valley, WA 98038, USA, Ph: +1 425 4327855, Fax: +1 425 4327832, e-mail: info@Aptech.com, http://www.Aptech.com

8, 9

Autobox for Windows, MTS for DOS

4.00, 2.00

Automatic Forecasting Systems, PO Box 563, Hatboro, PA 19040, USA, Ph: +1 215 6750652, Fax: +1 215 6722534, e-mail: dave@autobox,com, http://www.autobox.com

10, 11

Forecast Pro XE, Forecast Pro Standard Edition

3.00, 3.00

Business Forecast Systems, Inc., 68 Leonard St., Belmont, MA 02178, USA, Ph: +1 671 4845050, Fax: +1 617 4849219, e-mail: sales@forecastpro.com, http://www.Forecastpro.com

12, 13

Peer Planner for Windows 95/NT, WinX11

4.00

Delphus, Inc., 103 Washington St., Suite 348, Morristown, NJ 07960, USA, Ph: +1 973 2679269, Fax: +1 973 2859248, e-mail: delphus@worldnet.att.net, http://www.delphus.com

14, 15, 16

LIMDEP, LIMDEP/W for Windows, Nlogit

7.00, 7.00, 2.00

Econometric Software, Inc., 15 Gloria Place, Plainview, NY 11803, USA, Ph: +1 516 9385254, Fax: +1 516 9382441, e-mail: EconSoft@worldnet.att.net, http://wuecon.wustl.edu/limdep

17

RATS

4.30

Estima, 1800 Sherman Ave., #301, Evanston, IL 60201, USA, Ph: +1 847 8648772, Fax: +1 847 8646221, e-mail: estima@estima.com, http://www.estima.com

18

SORITEC for Windows

1.00

Full Information Software, Inc., 6417 Loisdale Road, Suite 200, Springfield, VA 22150-1811, USA , Ph: +1 703 9715122, Fax: +1 703 5691424, e-mail: jstreets@fisisoft.com, http://www.fisisoft.com

19, 20

ESPO, EXPO/Econometrics Add-in Module

3.20

Leading Market Technologies, One Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA, Ph: +1 617 4944747, Fax: +1 617 4944788, e-mail: LMT@WORLD.STD.COM, http://www.lmt-expo.com

21

SIBYL/RUNNER

1.16

Lincoln Systems Corporation, PO Box 391, Westford, MA 01886, USA, Ph: +1 978 6923910, e-mail: mikeh@world.std.com

22

Statgraphics Plus for Windows

 

Manugistics, Inc., 2115 E. Jefferson St., Rockville, MD 20852, USA, Ph: +1 301 9845000, Fax: +1 301 9845094, e-mail: answer@manu.com, http://www.manu.com

23

Logol

 

Materials Management Systems, Inc., PO Box 239, Thetford Center, VT 05075, USA, Ph: +1 802 7854492, http://RGBrown.com

24

S-PLUS 4 for Windows

 

MathSoft, Inc., 1700 Westlake Avenue North, Suite 500, Seattle, WA 98109, USA, Ph: +1 800 5690123, Fax: +1 206 2838691, e-mail: mktg@statsci.com, http://www.mathsoft.com

25, 26, 27, 28, 29

MATLAB, MATLAB Financial Toolbox, MATLAB Statistics Toolbox, MATLAB Systems Identification Toolbox, MATLAB Neural Net Toolbox

5.10

The MathWorks, Inc., 24 Prime Park Way, Natick, NA 01760-1500, USA, Ph: +1 508 6477000, Fax: +1 508 6477013, e-mail: finance@mathworks.com, http://www.mathworks.com/finprod

30

Minitab

12.00

Minitab Inc., 3081 Enterprise Dr., State College, PA 16801, USA, Ph: +1 800 4883555, Fax: +1 814 2384383, e-mail: sales@minitab.com, http://www.minitab.com

31

NCSS 97

 

NDSS, 329 N. 1000E, Kaysville, UT 84037, USA, Ph: +1 801 5460445, Fax: +1 801 5463907, e-mail: sales@ncss.com, http://www.ncss.com

32

Eviews

3.00

Quantitative Micro Software, 4521 Campus Drive, Suite 336, Irvine, CA 02612, USA, Ph: +1 714 8563368, Fax: +1 714 8562044, e-mail: sales@eviews.com, http://www.eviews.com

33, 34

REMI Policy Insight, REMI Policy Insight

EDFS-53, EDFS-14

Regional Economic Models, Inc., 306 Lincoln Avenue, Amherst, MA 01002, USA, Ph: +1 413 5491169, Fax: +1 413 5491038, e-mail: remi@crocker.com, http://www.remi.com

35

TsMetrix

2.0

Regional Economic Research, Inc., 12520 High Bluff Drive, Suite 220, San Diego, CA 92130, USA, Ph: +1 6199 4810081, Fax: +1 619 4817550, e-mail: tsmetrix@rer.com, http://www.rer.com

36

SAS Software

6.12

SAS Institute, Inc., SAS Campus Drive, Cary, NC 27513, USA, Ph: +1 919 6778000, Fax: +1 919 6774444, e-mail: software@sas.com, http://www.sas.com

37, 38

SCA Forecasting and Modeling Package, B345 Econometric Package

 

Scientific Computing Associates Corp., 913 W. Van Buren St. Suite 3H, Chicago, IL 60607-3528, USA, Ph: +1 312 4550222, Fax: +1 312 4551652, e-mail: sca@scausa.com, http://www.scausa.com

39

Shazam

8.00

Shazam, University of British Columbia, Department of Economics, 997-1873 East Mall, Vancouver, BC V6T 1Z1, Canada, Ph: +1 604 8225062, Fax: +1 604 8229299, e-mail: shazam@econ.ubc.ca, http://shazam.econ.uvc.ca

40

Smart Forecasts for Windows

4.10

Smart Software, Inc., 4 Hill Road, Belmont, MA 02178, USA, Ph: +1 800 7627899, Fax: +1 617 4892748, e-mail: info@smartcorp.com, http://www.smartcorp.com

41, 42

MktSim, TURBO Spring-Stata

 

Spring Systems, PO Box 10073, Chicago, IL 60610, USA, Ph: +1 773 2755273, e-mail: pavi53@aol.com, http://www.geocities.com/WallStreet/3960

43, 44

SPSS for Windows, SPSS Trends for Windows

8.0

SPSS Inc., 444 North Michigan Avenue, Chicago, IL 60611, USA, Ph: +1 312 3292400, Fax: +1 312 3293690, e-mail: sales@spss.com, http://www.spss.com

45, 46

STAMP, SsfPack

5.0, 2.0

STAMP – S. J. Koopman, Center for Economic Research, Tilburg University, PO Box 90153, 5000 LE Tilburg, The Netherlands, Ph: +31 13 4663246, Fax: +31 13 4663280, e-mail: stamp@ise.ac.uk, http://center.kub.nl/stamp

47

Statistica for Windows

5.10

StatSoft, Inc., 2300 E. 14th St., Tulsa, OK 74104, USA, Ph: +1 918 7491119, Fax: +1 918 7492217, e-mail: info@statsoft.com, http://www.statsoft.com

48

WINKS Professional

4.50

TexaSoft, PO Box 1169, Cedar Hill, TX 75106, USA, Ph: +1 972 2912115, Fax: +1 972 2913400, e-mail: info@texasoft.com, http://www.texasoft.com

49

TSP

4.4

TSP International, PO Box 61015, Palo Alto, CA 94306, USA, Ph: +1 650 3261927, Fax: +1 650 3284163, e-mail: sales@tspintl.com, http://www.tspintl.com

50

UNISTAT Statistical Package

 

UNISTAT Ltd., 4 Shirland Mews, London W9 3DY, England, Ph: +44 181 9641130, Fax: +44 181 9640531, e-mail: unistat@unistat.demon.ca.uk, http://www.unistat.com

51

VORSIM

 

VORSIM, 4707 9th St. South, Arlington, VA 22204, USA, Ph: +1 703 5211451, Fax: +1 703 8928810, e-mail: VORSIM@erols.com, http://members.aol.com/vorecon/vorsim.html

3. Selected forecasting techniques

ID

Software

Moving average

Exponential Smoothing

 

 

Models

Single

Holt’s

Winter’s

Brown’s

Triple

Adaptive

1

Modler

              

2

Modler Blue

              

3

Statistix for Windows

  

Y

Y

Y

Y

    

4

ABStat

              

5

WEBSURV

              

6

GAUSS Programming Language

              

7

GAUSS Applications

              

8

Autobox for Windows

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

  

9

MTS for DOS

              

10

Forecast Pro XE

Y

Y

Y

Y

      

11

Forecast Pro Standard Edition

Y

Y

Y

Y

      

12

Peer Planner for Windows 95/NT

  

Y

Y

Y

Y

    

13

WinX11

              

14

LIMDEP

              

15

LIMDEP/w for Windows

              

16

Nlogit

              

17

RATS

Y

Y

Y

Y

      

18

SORITEC for Windows

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

  

Y

19

EXPO

Y

Y

          

20

EXPO/Econometrics Add-in Module

Y

Y

          

21

Sibyl/runner

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

22

Statgraphics Plus for Windows

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

    

23

Logol

  

Y

    

Y

    

24

S-PLUS 4 for Windows

Y

            

25

MATLAB

              

26

MATLAB Financial Toolbox

Y

Y

          

27

MATLAB Statistics Toolbox

              

28

MATLAB Systems Identification Toolbox

              

29

MATLAB Neural Net Toolbox

              

30

Minitab

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

    

31

NCSS 97

  

Y

Y

Y

Y

    

32

Eviews

Y

Y

Y

Y

      

33

REMI Policy Insight

              

34

REMI Policy Insight

              

35

tsMetrix

Y

Y

Y

Y

      

36

SAS Software

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

  

37

SCA Forecasting and Modeling Package

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

    

38

B345 Econometric Package

              

39

Shazam

              

40

Smart Forecasts for Windows

Y

Y

  

Y

Y

    

41

MktSim

              

42

TURBO Spring-Stat

Y

      

Y

  

Y

43

SPSS for Windows

              

44

SPSS Trends

  

Y

Y

Y

Y

    

45

STAMP

  

Y

Y

Y

Y

    

46

SsfPack

              

47

Statistica for Windows

  

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

  

48

WINKS Professional

              

49

TSP

Y

            

50

UNISTAT Statistical Package

  

Y

Y

Y

      

51

VORSIM

              

ID

Software

Decomposition methods

Time series models

 

 

Classical

Census X-11

Univariate

Transfer functions

State-space

Intervention analysis

Automatic model selection

1

Modler

Y

            

2

Modler Blue

Y

            

3

Statistix for Windows

    

Y

        

4

ABStat

              

5

WEBSURV

              

6

GAUSS Programming Language

              

7

GAUSS Applications

    

Y

        

8

Autobox for Windows

    

Y

Y

  

Y

Y

9

MTS for DOS

    

Y

Y

    

Y

10

Forecast Pro XE

  

Y

Y

      

Y

11

Forecast Pro Standard Edition

    

Y

      

Y

12

Peer Planner for Windows 95/NT

Y

          

Y

13

WinX11

  

Y

Y

        

14

LIMDEP

    

Y

Y

      

15

LIMDEP/w for Windows

              

16

Nlogit

              

17

RATS

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

  

18

SORITEC for Windows

Y

Y

Y

Y

    

Y

19

EXPO

              

20

EXPO/Econometrics Add-in Module

    

Y

Y

      

21

Sibyl/runner

Y

Y

Y

        

22

Statgraphics Plus for Windows

Y

  

Y

      

Y

23

Logol

            

Y

24

S-PLUS 4 for Windows

Y

  

Y

    

Y

  

25

MATLAB

              

26

MATLAB Financial Toolbox

              

27

MATLAB Statistics Toolbox

              

28

MATLAB Systems Identification Toolbox

              

29

MATLAB Neural Net Toolbox

              

30

Minitab

Y

  

Y

        

31

NCSS 97

Y

  

Y

      

Y

32

Eviews

  

Y

Y

  

Y

Y

  

33

REMI Policy Insight

              

34

REMI Policy Insight

              

35

tsMetrix

    

Y

Y

      

36

SAS Software

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

37

SCA Forecasting and Modeling Package

    

Y

Y

  

Y

Y

38

B345 Econometric Package

    

Y

Y

Y

Y

Y

39

Shazam

              

40

Smart Forecasts for Windows

Y

  

Y

      

Y

41

MktSim

              

42

TURBO Spring-Stat

    

Y

        

43

SPSS for Windows

              

44

SPSS Trends

  

Y

Y

    

Y

  

45

STAMP

Y

      

Y

Y

  

46

SsfPack

Y

  

Y

  

Y

    

47

Statistica for Windows

Y

Y

Y

Y

  

Y

  

48

WINKS Professional

    

Y

      

Y

49

TSP

Y

  

Y

Y

Y

    

50

UNISTAT Statistical Package

    

Y

        

51

VORSIM

              

ID

Software

VAR models

 

Econometric models

 

 

Unrestricted

Bayesian

VARMA

 

Single Equation

Multi equation

1

Modler

        

Y

Y

2

Modler Blue

        

Y

Y

3

Statistix for Windows

            

4

ABStat

            

5

WEBSURV

            

6

GAUSS Programming Language

        

Y

  

7

GAUSS Applications

        

Y

Y

8

Autobox for Windows

        

Y

  

9

MTS for DOS

Y

  

Y

      

10

Forecast Pro XE

        

Y

  

11

Forecast Pro Standard Edition

        

Y

  

12

Peer Planner for Windows 95/NT

            

13

WinX11

            

14

LIMDEP

Y

      

Y

Y

15

LIMDEP/w for Windows

            

16

Nlogit

            

17

RATS

Y

Y

    

Y

Y

18

SORITEC for Windows

        

Y

Y

19

EXPO

Y

Y

Y

      

20

EXPO/Econometrics Add-in Module

Y

Y

Y

  

Y

  

21

SIBYL/RUNNER

        

Y

  

22

Statgraphics Plus for Windows

            

23

Logol

            

24

S-PLUS 4 for Windows

Y

          

25

MATLAB

            

26

MATLAB Financial Toolbox

            

27

MATLAB Statistics Toolbox

            

28

MATLAB Systems Identification Toolbox

            

29

MATLAB Neural Net Toolbox

            

30

Minitab

            

31

NCSS 97

            

32

Eviews

Y

      

Y

Y

33

REMI Policy Insight

          

Y

34

REMI Policy Insight

          

Y

35

tsMetrix

Y

  

Y

  

Y

  

36

SAS Software

Y

Y

Y

  

Y

Y

37

SCA Forecasting and Modeling Package

Y

  

Y

  

Y

Y

38

B345 Econometric Package

Y

  

Y

  

Y

Y

39

Shazam

        

Y

Y

40

Smart Forecasts for Windows

        

Y

  

41

MktSim

          

Y

42

TURBO Spring-Stat

            

43

SPSS for Windows

            

44

SPSS Trends

        

Y

Y

45

STAMP

        

Y

Y

46

SsfPack

        

Y

Y

47

Statistica for Windows

            

48

WINKS Professional

            

49

TSP

Y

      

Y

Y

50

UNISTAT Statistical Package

            

51

VORSIM

            

ID

Software

Spectral , analysis

Expert , systems

Artificial, neural , networks

Genetic algorithms

1

Modler

        

2

Modler Blue

        

3

Statistix for Windows

        

4

ABStat

        

5

WEBSURV

        

6

GAUSS Programming Language

Y

      

7

GAUSS Applications

Y

      

8

Autobox for Windows

  

Y

    

9

MTS for DOS

  

Y

    

10

Forecast Pro XE

  

Y

    

11

Forecast Pro Standard Edition

  

Y

    

12

Peer Planner for Windows 95/NT

  

Y

    

13

WinX11

        

14

LIMDEP

        

15

LIMDEP/w for Windows

        

16

Nlogit

        

17

RATS

Y

  

Y

  

18

SORITEC for Windows

        

19

EXPO

Y

      

20

EXPO/Econometrics Add-in Module

Y

      

21

SIBYL/RUNNER

        

22

Statgraphics Plus for Windows

        

23

Logol

        

24

S-PLUS 4 for Windows

Y

      

25

MATLAB

        

26

MATLAB Financial Toolbox

        

27

MATLAB Statistics Toolbox

        

28

MATLAB Systems Identification Toolbox

Y

Y

Y

  

29

MATLAB Neural Net Toolbox

    

Y

Y

30

Minitab

        

31

NCSS 97

Y

      

32

Eviews

        

33

REMI Policy Insight

        

34

REMI Policy Insight

        

35

tsMetrix

    

Y

  

36

SAS Software

Y

Y

Y

  

37

SCA Forecasting and Modeling Package

Y

Y

    

38

B345 Econometric Package

Y

      

39

Shazam

        

40

Smart Forecasts for Windows

  

Y

    

41

MktSim

        

42

TURBO Spring-Stat

Y

Y

    

43

SPSS for Windows

        

44

SPSS Trends

Y

  

Y

  

45

STAMP

Y

      

46

SsfPack

        

47

Statistica for Windows

Y

  

Y

Y

48

WINKS Professional

        

49

TSP

        

50

UNISTAT Statistical Package

        

51

VORSIM

 

 

 

 
  1. Selected econometric techniques
    2.

    ID

    Software

    Instrumental variables

    Autocorrelation

    LIML

    GLS

    ARCH

     

     

     

    Hildreth-Lu

    Cochrane-Orcutt

     

     

     

    1

    Modler

    Y

    Y

    Y

    		  

    Y

    Y

    2

    Modler Blue

    Y

    Y

    Y

    		  

    Y

    Y

    3

    Statistix for Windows

    		        

    Y

    		  

    4

    ABStat

    		            

    5

    WEBSURV

    		            

    6

    GAUSS Programming Language

    		            

    7

    GAUSS Applications

    		      

    Y

    Y

    Y

    8

    Autobox for Windows

    		  

    Y

    Y

    		  

    Y

    		  

    9

    MTS for DOS

    		            

    10

    Forecast Pro XE

    		    

    Y

    		      

    11

    Forecast Pro Standard Edition

    		    

    Y

    		      

    12

    Peer Planner for Windows 95/NT

    		            

    13

    WinX11

    		            

    14

    LIMDEP

    Y

    Y

    Y

    Y

    Y

    		  

    15

    LIMDEP/w for Windows

    		            

    16

    Nlogit

    		            

    17

    RATS

    Y

    Y

    Y

    		  

    Y

    Y

    18

    SORITEC for Windows

    Y

    Y

    Y

    		  

    Y

    Y

    19

    EXPO

    		            

    20

    EXPO/Econometrics Add-in Module

    Y

    		  

    Y

    		    

    Y

    21

    SIBYL/RUNNER

    		            

    22

    Statgraphics Plus for Windows

    		  

    Y

    		        

    23

    Logol