So what if the calculation is off? Would anyone in their right mind use numbers over excel? Never. It was maybe a typo, who knows? It is idiotic to write an article about this. Shameful.
More shameful than a "typo" in an ad pimping Excel?
The Numbers example did a great job of adding the column of numbers, but what's with the chart? It is quite lovely, all 3D and all. However, it has TWO slices labeled "Car" and NO slices labeled "Surf Rentals". Does Numbers have trouble with transposition of the content of a spreadsheet to a chart?
I wish you would have indicated which Numbers Pie Chart was in error, iOS, OS X, or Web Version. I've looked and looked and do not see any of the three Numbers charts with double slices labeled "Car". I'm either blind or DED was alerted to the error and corrected it. I have caught him several times with "Typos" and have alerted him of the error and he's been thankful for the editorial comment and made corrections.
Numbers has a shocking bug whereby it won't allow you to reference the same cell twice in a formula. Absolutely pitiful. There is a work around but it shouldn't be necessary.
As for Pages, it too has a stupid bug that just shouldn't be there. It can't differentiate a character with an intrinsic trailing or leading space from the version of the character without, so if you want to search for all instances of " and replace it " without the preceding space it treats them as the same character, even though they aren't.
These two bugs are so basic I think Microsoft isn't far wrong in their assessment.
The difference is Apple doesn't put up big billboards displaying these bugs.
Apple may not have 'approved' DED's piece- but they did make 'Numbers'.... And if Numbers *actually* botches simple things like that it is unusable for anything meaningful beyond people trying to put their vacation dollars into a pie chart (really Microsoft? Is there anyone out there that actually does this?)
While I find it funny when people make these blunders, too. I would feel better if us Mac people didn't resort to giving a false impression just because others do it.
If you look at the 500 dollar car expense you will see the cell is selected. The "error" is the add agency who didn't his the enter key before taking the photo. The auto sum at the bottom would have updated by 500 and been correct had they done so.
Still pretty stupid on someones part, but not the software. And while then advertising could be desperation, it could be they recognize that being able to do real work on a tablet is a new market that will grow if people ever build for it. Honestly, if Apple made a "surface" (dumbest naming idea ever) that ran OSX when I needed it, I think I'd be in line and so would a lot of other people.
This is one case where Microsoft finally risk innovation, I'd thick us Mac users ought to respect the attempt. And of course wait for Apple to do it better before jumping in.
Although this is a big blunder on MS part and it made me laugh the truth is that excel is a superior product to numbers. It's definately more powerful and apple should put a lot of effort in bringing more features to numbers. Hopefully sooner than later too.
Do you really think there's a problem with Excel being able to calculate properly? Numbers can do math but Excel gets the problem incorrect?
It's obviously a marketing dept typo.If you're saying Excel can't handle math, that seems as desperate and ridiculous as Microsoft's comments about iWork.
The accuracy of Excel or Numbers is not the issue. Of course both of these programs add the numbers correctly. The whole point of this article is to point out that Microsoft's ad firm put up a billboard with a typo in it while trying to show how great Excel on the Surface is. Microsoft paid millions for this ad and billboard space all across America and it's a poke at the mistake. The irony of this mistake is just too great not to ignore and laugh at.
Although this is a big blunder on MS part and it made me laugh the truth is that excel is a superior product to numbers.
It's definately more powerful and apple should put a lot of effort in bringing more features to numbers. Hopefully sooner than later too.
Source: myself, heavy spreadsheet user.
Excel and the entire Office Suite are becoming less popular commercially because more and more consumers are figuring out that light productivity tools featured in Google Drive and iWork are perfectly capable of performing the functions they need on a daily basis. There is a reason that MSFT is literally giving Office away with Surface. They know like most know that Office is not the commodity that it was 4 years ago.
Only a small percentage of Office users are even aware of how deep Excel and Word go, so why bother with the expense of paying for Office when iWork and Google Drive are free. I haven't purchased a version of Office since 2007 because there is literally no good reason to.
In the next couple of years you can bank on MSFT doing a "light" productivity suite billed as "Office" and giving it away too to stay competitive in the areas of mobile and tablet productivity computing.
The difference is Apple doesn't put up big billboards displaying these bugs.
Microsoft didn't put up billboards displaying any bugs, the advertising agency they employed made an error. While that is amusing, Apple releasing competing software that actually does have serious basic bugs isn't amusing.
The adage - 'people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' - seems applicable.
Microsoft can't do the math any way. They say they are ment for the work bit the. ad says its ment for work and play while there dissing a 64 bit architecture. Wow Microsoft pathetic. :no:
Excel and the entire Office Suite are becoming less popular commercially because more and more consumers are figuring out that light productivity tools featured in Google Drive and iWork are perfectly capable of performing the functions they need on a daily basis. There is a reason that MSFT is literally giving Office away with Surface. They know like most know that Office is not the commodity that it was 4 years ago.
Only a small percentage of Office users are even aware of how deep Excel and Word go, so why bother with the expense of paying for Office when iWork and Google Drive are free. I haven't purchased a version of Office since 2007 because there is literally no good reason to.
In the next couple of years you can bank on MSFT doing a "light" productivity suite billed as "Office" and giving it away too to stay competitive in the areas of mobile and tablet productivity computing.
From my experience you can't do serious work on google spreadsheet nor on numbers. For light users it's probably the same or even better than excel but if you want to do more you have to go with excel.
That's a big part of why MS can sell its suite where the others have to give it out for free.
I wish apple adds functionality and features and I am sure they will. You cannot not have pivot tables for example.
Microsoft didn't put up billboards displaying any bugs, the advertising agency they employed made an error. While that is amusing, Apple releasing competing software that actually does have serious basic bugs isn't amusing.
The adage - 'people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' - seems applicable.
Not applicable. If you're going to deflect blame to Microsoft's ad agency, you can't call Apple out for hypocrisy because they aren't the ones making fun of this ad. It's DED who is "throwing stones." DED is not a proxy for Apple any more than your precious "advertising agency" is a proxy for Microsoft.
Comments
So what if the calculation is off? Would anyone in their right mind use numbers over excel? Never. It was maybe a typo, who knows? It is idiotic to write an article about this. Shameful.
More shameful than a "typo" in an ad pimping Excel?
The Numbers example did a great job of adding the column of numbers, but what's with the chart? It is quite lovely, all 3D and all. However, it has TWO slices labeled "Car" and NO slices labeled "Surf Rentals". Does Numbers have trouble with transposition of the content of a spreadsheet to a chart?
I wish you would have indicated which Numbers Pie Chart was in error, iOS, OS X, or Web Version. I've looked and looked and do not see any of the three Numbers charts with double slices labeled "Car". I'm either blind or DED was alerted to the error and corrected it. I have caught him several times with "Typos" and have alerted him of the error and he's been thankful for the editorial comment and made corrections.
Numbers has a shocking bug whereby it won't allow you to reference the same cell twice in a formula. Absolutely pitiful. There is a work around but it shouldn't be necessary.
As for Pages, it too has a stupid bug that just shouldn't be there. It can't differentiate a character with an intrinsic trailing or leading space from the version of the character without, so if you want to search for all instances of " and replace it " without the preceding space it treats them as the same character, even though they aren't.
These two bugs are so basic I think Microsoft isn't far wrong in their assessment.
The difference is Apple doesn't put up big billboards displaying these bugs.
Apple may not have 'approved' DED's piece- but they did make 'Numbers'.... And if Numbers *actually* botches simple things like that it is unusable for anything meaningful beyond people trying to put their vacation dollars into a pie chart (really Microsoft? Is there anyone out there that actually does this?)
Um... what do you think?
What I love about this site is how deep and intelligent analyses are.
But, sometimes it is so ridiculously biased that I, a faithful apple client, feel very disappointed and upset.
Is this a joke? Sorry, different sense of humor.
Let's be honest, Excel is the de facto standard for spreadsheet calculations.
Of course it can calulate, and it is far more powerful than apple numbers.
The explanation?
The $500 cell is highlighted in the picture. Which is the amount by which the total amount is off.
Answer... it could have been typed into the cell and not confirmed yet by pressing ENTER.
No bug there.
Too easy to spot when you know the terms they frequently use on these forums.
If you look at the 500 dollar car expense you will see the cell is selected. The "error" is the add agency who didn't his the enter key before taking the photo. The auto sum at the bottom would have updated by 500 and been correct had they done so.
Still pretty stupid on someones part, but not the software. And while then advertising could be desperation, it could be they recognize that being able to do real work on a tablet is a new market that will grow if people ever build for it. Honestly, if Apple made a "surface" (dumbest naming idea ever) that ran OSX when I needed it, I think I'd be in line and so would a lot of other people.
This is one case where Microsoft finally risk innovation, I'd thick us Mac users ought to respect the attempt. And of course wait for Apple to do it better before jumping in.
Just my thoughts. But it was a good laugh.
It's definately more powerful and apple should put a lot of effort in bringing more features to numbers. Hopefully sooner than later too.
Source: myself, heavy spreadsheet user.
Do you really think there's a problem with Excel being able to calculate properly? Numbers can do math but Excel gets the problem incorrect?
It's obviously a marketing dept typo.If you're saying Excel can't handle math, that seems as desperate and ridiculous as Microsoft's comments about iWork.
The accuracy of Excel or Numbers is not the issue. Of course both of these programs add the numbers correctly. The whole point of this article is to point out that Microsoft's ad firm put up a billboard with a typo in it while trying to show how great Excel on the Surface is. Microsoft paid millions for this ad and billboard space all across America and it's a poke at the mistake. The irony of this mistake is just too great not to ignore and laugh at.
Although this is a big blunder on MS part and it made me laugh the truth is that excel is a superior product to numbers.
It's definately more powerful and apple should put a lot of effort in bringing more features to numbers. Hopefully sooner than later too.
Source: myself, heavy spreadsheet user.
Excel and the entire Office Suite are becoming less popular commercially because more and more consumers are figuring out that light productivity tools featured in Google Drive and iWork are perfectly capable of performing the functions they need on a daily basis. There is a reason that MSFT is literally giving Office away with Surface. They know like most know that Office is not the commodity that it was 4 years ago.
Only a small percentage of Office users are even aware of how deep Excel and Word go, so why bother with the expense of paying for Office when iWork and Google Drive are free. I haven't purchased a version of Office since 2007 because there is literally no good reason to.
In the next couple of years you can bank on MSFT doing a "light" productivity suite billed as "Office" and giving it away too to stay competitive in the areas of mobile and tablet productivity computing.
The difference is Apple doesn't put up big billboards displaying these bugs.
Microsoft didn't put up billboards displaying any bugs, the advertising agency they employed made an error. While that is amusing, Apple releasing competing software that actually does have serious basic bugs isn't amusing.
The adage - 'people who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones' - seems applicable.
Microsoft Word and Excel. Hmmmm. I remember those. Aren't they from the 1960's?
No, I think you are thinking of WordStar and Visicalc.
(Yes, I do know they date from the early/mid 80s)
The shame with Numbers is that Excel that ran on Windows 3.1 last century was a far deeper and superior product.
Before long...
[B][I]Shaw[/I][/B][I]ed[/I] == [B][I]Ballmer[/I][/B][I]ed[/I] == [B][I]Sinofsky[/I][/B][I]ed[/I] == [B][I]Bork[/I][/B][I]ed[/I]
Look it up!
WordStar and VisiCalc date from 1979.
Excel was released for the Mac in 1985.
From my experience you can't do serious work on google spreadsheet nor on numbers. For light users it's probably the same or even better than excel but if you want to do more you have to go with excel.
That's a big part of why MS can sell its suite where the others have to give it out for free.
I wish apple adds functionality and features and I am sure they will. You cannot not have pivot tables for example.
Not applicable. If you're going to deflect blame to Microsoft's ad agency, you can't call Apple out for hypocrisy because they aren't the ones making fun of this ad. It's DED who is "throwing stones." DED is not a proxy for Apple any more than your precious "advertising agency" is a proxy for Microsoft.
Look it up!
WordStar and VisiCalc date from 1979.
Excel was released for the Mac in 1985.
It was a joke.