Microsoft R Open 3.3.1, our enhanced disstribution of open source R, is now available for download for Windows, Mac, and Linux. This update upgrades the R langauge engine to version 3.3.1, streamlines the installation process, and bundles some additional packages for parallel programming.
R version 3.3.1 fixes a few rarely-encountered bugs, for example to generate Gamma random numbers with zero or infinite rate parameters, and correctly match text that only differed in the encoding. (See here for a complete list of fixes.) There are no user-visible changes in the language itself, which means that scripts and packages should work without changes from MRO 3.3.0.
For reproducibility, installing packages with MRO 3.3.1 will by default get you package versions as of July 1, 2016. Many packages have been updated or released since MRO 3.3.0, including packages for multivariate covariance generalized linear models, simulating data sets, and creating HTML tables. (See here for some highlights of new packages.) As always, if you want to use newer versions of CRAN packages (or access older versions, for reproducibility), just use the checkpoint function to access the CRAN Time Machine.
MRO 3.3.1 now pre-installs some additional packages, including the parallel-programming packages doParallel, foreach and iterators and (on Windows) the RODBC package for interacting with databases. (See here for a list of packages bundled with MRO.) MRO 3.3.1 is also now easier to install: it's now just a single download, with the option to install the Math Kernel Libraries (and speed up computations) during the install process. (Some benchmarks from an older version of MRO are shown below; results are about the same for MRO 3.3.1.)
We hope you find Microsoft R Open useful, and if you have any comments or questions please visit the Microsoft R Open forum. To download Microsoft R Open (it's free!), simply follow the link below.
any plans for providing MRO in a docker hub?
Posted by: jangorecki | August 28, 2016 at 08:29
Great Update! However I noticed that this version now requires administrative privilages (on windows) to install which was not necessary in previous versions.
I was wondering if this was something that could be reverted in future versions? I believe this can have a negative impact in adaptation from the academic and the corporate community since it makes the installation process much more complicated.
Posted by: Mehran | August 30, 2016 at 07:59
Hi, Mehran,
We're always open to suggestions, and if demand is high, then we will certainly consider providing a non-administrative install in future releases. However, the current installer actually can work very well in an academic/corporate environment--an IT administrator can install one copy, verify that the release meets the enterprise guidelines, install any system-wide additions (packages, etc.), then zip the install and distribute enterprise-wide.
Cheers,
Rich Calaway
Microsoft R Release Manager
Posted by: Rich Calaway | September 01, 2016 at 09:12
Our IT admin was not able to install MRO 3.3.1 on my laptop (Windows 7) today for some unknown reason. It installs then rolls back. I would also vote for a version that does not require admin privilege. Thanks.
Posted by: michael | September 06, 2016 at 08:37
I would also vote for a version with no admin requirement.
Posted by: Mathieu | September 06, 2016 at 11:58