In reply to Jim Willis.

Jim,

Where to begin? The benefit of learning new software and new features of existing software -- that depends largely on your job role and career path. The SAS System (programming language and supporting tools) has expanded so much since V6. All of your V6 techniques still work, probably, but there are better methods/procs/functions for so much of what you did back then. Databases change, operating systems change, new statistical methods come to life, and user expectations change. SAS has changed to keep up and in many cases, to lead the innovation. SAS Enterprise Guide is not really new (see its history here), but long-time SAS users are introduced to it every day. SAS offers resources like blogs and SAS Talks (see this one on SAS Enterprise Guide) so you can decide where to invest your learning cycles.

If you want to learn more about custom tasks specifically (topic of this blog), review this SAS Talks session.