Version 1.0.0 of R was released to the world on February 29, 2000, and had already had a significant impact on statistical data analysis software even at that point. In this talk, I’ll look back on the history of the R project: its predecessor, S; the open-source movement and its connection with R; its growth in academic and research communities; and its adoption by commercial enterprises.
Presented at SatRDays DC, March 2020: PDF Slides, video recording
Presented at confeRence 2020 (Malaysia R User Conference), November 2020 as "R at (almost) 21": PDF Slides
The History of R (Updated for 2020) (Revolutions Blog, 2020)
R, Other Languages and Object-Oriented Programming (J. M. Chambers, 2010)
Data Analysts Captivated by R’s Power (New York Times, 7 Jan 2009)
Text of first public announcement of R
R, Past and Future History (R. Ihaka, 1998)
First public availability of RStudio
Microsoft acquires Revolution Analytics
Microsoft support of R: MRAN, Microsoft ML Server, SQL Server, Power BI, Azure Databricks, Azure HDinsight, Azure Data Science VM, Azure ML, AzureR, R Community
A brief History of R and some Thoughts about Its Future (P. Dalgaard, presentation for Celebration 2020)
Coronavirus chart (John Burn-Murdoch for the Financial Times, 25 Mar 2020)
R 1.0.0 CD-ROM, Dr. Hannah Owens
Photo of Ross Ihaka and Robert Gentleman: Robert Gentleman (personal communication)
CRAN packages chart, Jozef Hajnala
"Bit" art: Ashley McNamara