mr_chip

This is a common misconception about open source. Many open source projects are backed up by a team of programmers and analysts. Sometimes these projects are indeed backed by full-time programmers whose job it is to make sure the program runs flawlessly.

I've never used Stata or R. However, just by googling for a few minutes, I found the names of all the main contributors to the R project here:

http://www.r-project.org

That's 20 core contributors, 2 former core contributors, and a whole mess of people who have submitted patches.

Further, I can see a list of all known defects in R at any time. Can you do that with Stata?

https://bugs.r-project.org/bugzilla3/

Finally, I can see a list of all features and bugfixes planned for the next release of R here: http://developer.r-project.org

People all over the world sink hundreds of hours of their time into developing R. Some of them do it while on the clock, even if it's not their primary job function.

I'm all for proprietary software when appropriate. It's got a place in the world, and sometimes proprietary software is WAY better than the open source alternative.

But I and many others have made very successful careers by often betting our livelihoods on open source software. Writing it off because of the model used to develop it is foolish and ignorant.

Tell us about Banshee Chapter. What attracted you to the project? Is it horror/comedy like True Blood, or is it straight up horror? What was the most uncomfortable scene to film?

(I know, I know, softballs, but I'm genuinely curious. I've heard the name of the movie but nothing else about it.)

I just have general career questions, so apologies if this is overloaded with Q’s. Can you talk a bit about how you got into comedy? Were you always wanting to be a performer or a writer? What’s it like working with the same people for decades now? What’s the work in your career that you’re most proud of?

Your work has brought a lot of joy to my whole family. Thank you!