Scilab for Windows

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Scilab is an open source numerical software package available for Windows and freely distributed under the GNU public license and designed by Scilab Enterprises. Scilab Enterprises developed it for many years as a simple answer to the problems faced in numerical analysis using computers. The current release of Scilab for Windows is now out, and in the review of Scilab for Windows done by a prominent computer technician here in the U.S., it was found to be accurate with respect to the specification released by the maker of the software, hence users are advised to upgrade to the latest version. The review of Scilab for Windows was done on a computer system running the Microsoft Windows XP Service Packs 3 and was found to be accurate with respect to the functionality of the software.

The other reviews on Scilab for Windows are based on user feedback, which can be considered as preliminary reports. The analysis of the usability of the graphical user interface for controlling the statistical calculation using the built in scientific applications is found to be good, as it provides convenient functions to help the user in performing the required tasks. For scientific calculations the built in scientific processing language is quite useful in guiding the users in analyzing the data collected. The scientific and engineering applications of the software were found to be versatile in handling large amount of data collected through scientific analysis, with the exception of some minor limitations like inability to handle complex distributions or non-normal distribution of the data types. Some of the other disadvantages of Scilab for Windows are:

Apart from the above, there is another product called Scilab Express for Macintosh OS X which is another free solution of the problem of numerical computations with the built in scientific calculations using graphical tools and high level programming language. The reviews for Scilab Express have shown that this solution is much more user friendly than Scilab for Windows, especially for the casual user who does not need highly sophisticated functions and graphing capabilities. This product is quite similar to SciCab for the Mac OS X operating system, which is also free and widely used by the scientific community around the world. In general both products are quite useful for users who want to perform scientific calculations involving tens or even hundreds of thousands of data points. Users of these products are encouraged to download the trial versions of these products before making their final decision on which software to use for their scientific computation needs.