Why use R statistical program?

Here are some good points:

"The quants at financial services companies have taken a particular shining to R, and not just because they are cheap."

"Jeff Erhardt, who was a heavy R user when he worked at chip makers Advanced Micro Devices and Spansion and who is chief operating officer at Revolution, says that universities are not teaching SAS and SPSS any more. They are using R, just like proprietary and Unix operating systems have been displaced by Linux in computer science programs."

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2010/05/06/revolution_commercial_r/