Introduction

SPSS (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences) is a computer program used for
statistical analysis. SPSS is a popular statistics program used in a variety of
scientific disciplines.  It is composed of two facets, the statistical package itself and
the SPSS language, a system of syntax used to execute commands and procedures. 
Likewise, there are two approaches to using SPSS:  (a) via the menu system and
point-and-click approach and  (b) via the use of SPSS programming syntax.  Most
users will find a combination of these approaches most effective in carrying out
their data analyses.

History
SPSS was released in its first version in 1968 after being developed by Norman
H.Nie and C. Hadlai Hull Norman was then a political science postgraduate at
Stanford University and now Research Professor in the Department of Political
Science at Stanford and Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of
chicago.

Versions
Early versions of SPSS were designed for batch processing on main firms,
including for example IBM and ICL versions, originally using punched cards for
input. A processing run read a command file of SPSS commands and either a raw
input file of fixed format data with a single record type, or a 'get file' of data saved
by a previous run. From version 10 (SPSS-X) in 1983, data files could contain
multiple record types.

SPSS version 16.0 runs under Windows, Mac OS 10.5 and earlier, and Linux. The
graphical user interface is written in java. The Mac OS version is provided as a
Universal binary, making it fully compatible with both PowerPC and Intel-based
Mac hardware.

Prior to SPSS 16.0, different versions of SPSS were available for Windows, Mac
OS X and UNIX. The Windows version was updated more frequently, and had
more features, than the versions for other operating systems SPSS version 13.0 for
Mac OS X was not compatible with Intel-based Macintosh computers, due to the
Rosetta emulation software causing errors in calculations. SPSS 15.0 for Windows
needed a downloadable hot fix to be installed in order to be compatible with
Windows vista

Advantages of statistical software SPSS

It is used by market researchers, health researchers, survey companies,
government, education researchers, marketing organizations and others

SPSS offers a user friendliness that most packages are only now catching up
to.

  It is popular, and though that is certainly not a reason for choosing a

statistical package, many data sets are easily loaded into it and other
programs can easily import SPSS files

As of version 16 and 17 it now is compatible with R and Python (assuming

they are installed on the machine), which can give it the functionality it
otherwise lacks or would be too clunky in its own syntax.

Furthermore it is very easy to export them to html or PowerPoint for

presentation

 In short, pretty text is not a reason to use a package, and while you can
easily export the graphics, this is no longer an advantage it has over other
packages

SPSS graphics have lagged far behind most major statistical packages for
awhile now.
Enhances productivity as it reduces coding, testing and documentation
time. The reusing of requirements and design results in saving time to a
great extent.
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Slightly more user friendly in making complex tables & graphs

Friendly ANOVA commands.
Disadvantages of SPSS
For academic use SPSS lags notably behind SAS, R and even perhaps
others that are on the more mathematical rather than statistical side
for modern data analysis.
Its menu offerings are typically the most basic of an analysis and
sometimes lacking even then, and it makes doing an inappropriate
analysis very easy.
The default graphics are poor and not easily customizable to make
them better.
  It is expensive, sometimes ridiculously so (e.g. many of its add-ons are
free elsewhere or part of the base install for other packages), and even
when you do buy you're really only leasing, and its license is definitely
not user friendly.
There are often compatibility issues with prior versions