Microsoft Surface ad fails to Excel at math, according to Apple's Numbers

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  • Reply 141 of 230
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    Maybe they have autocalc turned off?
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  • Reply 142 of 230
    Stupid article. They have changed the car expenses from $0 to $500 but haven't clicked off the field so it hasn't updated.
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  • Reply 143 of 230
    Well, a map service that drive you to nowhere is worth a headline.
    A program that remove features leaving a thousands of users without advanced tools is worth a headline.
    A typo in the artwork of a billboard, well, at least could show who is a real journalist and who is an a$ $ hole.

    I just sing up a office 365 account and fill the cells with the data and the excel sum properly, so this is a case of an artwork error.

    Due the sheer size of the billboard, the excel worksheet is a vector artwork rather that an actual screenshot of excel, because the resolution would be too low to render well without heavy pixilation. So the guy that create the artwork need a better calculator app in his iPhone.
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  • Reply 144 of 230
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    cmoebius wrote: »
    I am as big an Apple fan as anyone, but there may be a simple explanation for the $500 discrepancy in the total.

    I noticed in the ad the cell with 500 is still highlighted. If this means that the user entered the 500 without committing the change (hitting enter), the value would not have been counted in the total. I couldn't see if there was an active cursor in the field, but if there was, that would be the clincher. If there wasn't, it could just mean that the software that made the screen shot did not include the cursor in it.

    Sorry to put a damper on the Microsoft bashing. They do a good enough job with their comical attempts at copying Apple.

    I thought the same, but if that was the case there would be a 500 in the formula entry bar thingy (what ever it is called)
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  • Reply 145 of 230
    What about the box around around the $500 figure budgeted for car? It looks like one of the marketing people probably had one figure in there, and decided to change it, so went ahead and entered $500, but never pressed enter. Therefore the calculation had yet to be made (hence the box around the $500 figure). They took a screen shot of it like that without realizing enter hadn't been pressed to update the total. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
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  • Reply 146 of 230
    semiotics wrote: »
    excel doesn't calculate the sum until you press enter. the total sum is short by $500, so it's no coincidence the cell being edited is... $500

    DED was just having fun at Microsoft's expense. I don't think he is claiming at Excel has a serious math bug. Microsoft's ad agency has been making rather embarrassing ads for a while now, including the "fly on the wall in Cupertino" YouTube video and the breakdancing surface ads. This gaff is minor compared to the others.
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  • Reply 147 of 230
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Suddenly Newton View Post



    I don't think he is claiming at Excel has a serious math bug.

     

    It's pretty easy to go back and see multiple times where DED says that Excel has a serious math problem and that Numbers doesn't share this problem.

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  • Reply 148 of 230
    Originally Posted by semiotics View Post

    excel doesn't calculate the sum until you press enter. the total sum is short by $500, so it's no coincidence the cell being edited is... $500



    Originally Posted by jayconnor View Post

    Stupid article. They have changed the car expenses from $0 to $500 but haven't clicked off the field so it hasn't updated.



    Originally Posted by beemmeupnow View Post

    What about the box around around the $500 figure budgeted for car? It looks like one of the marketing people probably had one figure in there, and decided to change it, so went ahead and entered $500, but never pressed enter. Therefore the calculation had yet to be made (hence the box around the $500 figure). They took a screen shot of it like that without realizing enter hadn't been pressed to update the total. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

     

    You know, Microsoft, instead of paying these people to do damage control, you could have just fixed the actual problem.

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  • Reply 149 of 230
    jfanningjfanning Posts: 3,398member
    droidftw wrote: »
    I would like a free copy of Office.  Care to point me to where I can legally obtain one?

    http://www.computerworld.co.nz/article/529223/office_nz_students_when_schools_buy_staff_licences_microsoft/

    Or you can purchase a surface, it comes free there as well
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  • Reply 150 of 230
    You know, Microsoft, instead of paying these people to do damage control, you could have just fixed the actual problem.

    These paid shills are really stupid, as well. How many times does it have to be pointed out that the expense has already been incorporated in the pie chart? So this "hasn't yet pressed 'enter'" excuse won't wash.

    No, nobody thinks Excel can't add seven numbers*—that's not the point. It's the incompetence and tone-deafness of Microsoft, which paying you one-post wonders to bitch about this post shows up to perfection.

    *Although, Intel did etch a math error into silicon once, so who the hell knows?
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  • Reply 151 of 230
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member
    Quote:
    Originally Posted by jfanning View Post





    http://www.computerworld.co.nz/article/529223/office_nz_students_when_schools_buy_staff_licences_microsoft/



    Or you can purchase a surface, it comes free there as well

     

    Your link requires someone to purchase licences, hence it's not free.



    Your second suggestion requires purchasing a Surface.  Once again, that's not free.

     

    You're welcome to keep trying, but it's silly to suggest that MS is giving away Office for free.

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  • Reply 152 of 230
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    darklite wrote: »
    Hold on a second, you mean sometimes the things displayed in adverts are a mockup / edited image of the actual product? I had no idea.

    Edit: I notice DED hasn't even bothered to check if the issue affects actual copies of Excel and seems to have treated the billboard as a functioning copy. 

    It was a slow day in DED's office. He got bored playing with Garage Band, and there was nothing else to do... ;)
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  • Reply 153 of 230
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    muppetry wrote: »
    It looks like a mockup to me, because the cell is highlighted and contains a number, but the content bar is empty, which it wouldn't be - at least if it works like the desktop version. Why do they even do that, when it is so easy to use the real thing?

    Marketing department doesn't know how to use Excel, maybe..?
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  • Reply 154 of 230
    welshdogwelshdog Posts: 1,924member


    Edward Tufte / Stephen Few.


    Who are these people?

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  • Reply 155 of 230
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    And, unlike their disgusting and pathetic YouTube videos which Microsoft takes down seconds after failure (the “fly on the wall” series, the one where the Xbox One was caught displaying the Playstation 4 version of a game, etc.), this will stay up and wrong.
     
    Hi, one post. Shut up and go away. We don’t like lies here, hence this article about an ad that lies.

    Not when the feature is broken.

    Has Apple ever gotten arithmetic wrong on their ads?

    Crashing, getting viruses, overheating…

    This is the standard Anti-Apple Brigade excuse for not even trying to be perfect.

    So you go bankrupt because it lets you overspend. Are you really suggesting a program who’s SOLE PURPOSE IT IS TO DO CALCULATIONS is usable if the calculations are off?

    Well, given that Numbers DOESN’T GET WRONG SIMPLE ARITHMETIC, yes.

    So the software’s SELF-RUNNING ALGORITHMS FOR COMPUTING THE VALUES OF CELLS IN THE TABLE “made a typo”, did it? 

    Do you honestly expect us to accept your pathetic premise that someone is just using Excel to have all his numbers lined up in a row, pretty, and has done the calculations by hand on paper elsewhere?!

    It looks like you are not admin here any more, so I guess you can now be as obnoxious and unpolite as you wish to be.

    Out of curiosity - have you tried to reproduce and confirm this "error", or you are still taking DED's articles by default as an ultimate truth?

    A bit disappointing, really.
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  • Reply 156 of 230
    nikon133nikon133 Posts: 2,600member
    Nice. Microsoft's payees are out in full force today. Good morning, guys/gals. More clicks for AI! :)

    Just so you -- and the other 'surf-rental' nitpickers -- know, DED does not work for Apple's advertising agency. And, Apple did not approve this.
    muppetry wrote: »
    There sure are a lot of people with absolutely no sense of humor or irony jumping to Microsoft's defense on this one. So you signed up just to make public that you don't get it at all?

    It must be true, because you said it.
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  • Reply 157 of 230
    Originally Posted by nikon133 View Post

    Out of curiosity - have you tried to reproduce and confirm this "error", or you are still taking DED's articles by default as an ultimate truth?

     

    What does anything in your post have to do with the post you quoted?

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  • Reply 158 of 230
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Freshmaker View Post

    I'm sure many here like iWork, but it will never gain any traffic with Fortune 500 companies (not that Apple cares, in all likelihood), unless Apple makes a PC-compatible version.

     

    According to Citrix, Apple’s Numbers is the fourth most popular mobile app among its enterprise users. Office isn’t in the list, in part because nobody uses Windows for mobile devices, and in part because Microsoft doesn’t offer Office for iOS, by far the most popular mobile OS among Fortune 500 companies. 

     

    http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/03/28/citrix-details-apples-ios-iwork-lead-in-enterprise-adoption

     

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  • Reply 159 of 230
    It's funny that he says making a tablet that helps people kill time is relatively easy, yet he can't do it.
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  • Reply 160 of 230
    droidftwdroidftw Posts: 1,009member
    Quote:

    Originally Posted by Corrections View Post

     

    Microsoft doesn’t offer Office for iOS


     

    https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/office-mobile-for-office-365/id541164041

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