SAS or R software

Can some one clarify me on this issue, features wise which is better
R or SAS, leaving the commerical aspect associated with it. I suppose
there are few people who have worked on both R and SAS and wish they
would be able to help me in deciding on this.

My personal proclivities incline me to use SAS (or Minitab) for
analysing mixed effects models.  I have never been able to get my
head around the S/R syntax for such models, whereas the SAS/Minitab
syntax seems perfectly clear to me.

For ***ANYTHING*** else I would use R.

(In my work I don't encounter the multi-multi-megabyte data sets
for which SAS apparently has a pronounced advantage with respect
to speed.)

				cheers,

					Rolf Turner
					rolf at math.unb.ca