https://bugs.freedesktop.org/show_bug.cgi?id=53274

--- Comment #8 from [email protected] 2012-08-20 16:19:04 UTC ---
I understand that from the point of view of a developer, the software has been
fixed to adhere to its specifications, as it should have from the beginning.
But think about it from the point of view of the users. We get information on
functions from the help documentation, not the specifications. And the help
documentation we cited, while perhaps outdated, is still online
http://help.libreoffice.org/Calc/Information_Functions#N

Like Nikos, I have used this function for years. This change turned half the
values on the spreadsheets at my work to #N/A. Combined with macros that
automatically copy columns around, all the information on the spreadsheets was
lost after opening and saving with LibreOffice 3.6.

If you absolutely have to make a change that could potentially destroy people's
work, then you should make a huge warning about it when you release a new
version.

After identifying the problem, I reverted the spreadsheets to backups, rolled
back to LibreOffice 3.5.5.3, and started searching for an alternative to N with
no luck. Best I could find was using IF and ISNA but its nowhere as practical
and simple.

There used to be a simple way to turn N/A into 0, now there isn't. You've
reduced functionality for the sake of compatibility and conforming to
specifications. Either provide an alternative to N, or make this change to its
behavior optional. Let us choose whether we want the software to behave as it
has for years, or whether we want it to be compatible with other spreadsheet
software.

Your failure to provide a solution and your refusal to recognize that you made
a mistake in handling this change have led me to shift to OpenOffice.
Hopefully, when the folks at the Apache Foundation get around to fixing this
"error" in the N function, they'll stop a moment to think of how it might
affect users and act accordingly.

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