My point. I have never seen Tech Support so unprofessional ever. I don't
care if you like my attitude you do not troll former customers.
At 15:31 14/02/2018 -0600, you wrote:
This is why after years I have now stopped using Open Office and
switched to Google Apps.
Ah, so you have been using it successfully for years?
I am a programmer.
Good: so you'll know what you are doing, then.
I quickly dump software that does not comply to User Ergonomics.
Er, hold on: you are dumping OpenOffice "quickly" after using it for
years? That makes no sense at all!
It should be simple and intuitive. Especially the simplest task.
Yes, matters should be made as simple as passable, but that is by no
means always trivial. If I buy a piano, I don't expect playing the
Moonlight Sonata to come easily: I have to learn how to operate the
instrument. If I buy a car, I don't expect to be able to complete the
"simplest task" of driving to work without extensive lessons and setting
up fuel, licensing, insurance, and so on. Using computer software is
similar: you need to expect to learn how to drive it before you can be
proficient. It's very difficult to see how you are a programmer but
apparently do not appreciate this simple idea.
All I wanted was to set up a budget like I have many time in Open
Office but the Sum command now does not sum.
Well, it does, of course - and you know it does, as you have used it
before. Nothing has changed. Simple logic implies that you are now
simply doing something different to create your problem, although you
may well not recognise this.
Why? I read online suggestions which mentioned it could have something
to do with the value being treated as Text with no explanation to
convert them to numerical values.
If you don't understand this distinction, you are very much a beginner
at using spreadsheets - and you will find the same problem whichever
spreadsheet software you choose to use - yes, even Google's. What you
see is *not* what you get in spreadsheets, and never has been:
o What is displayed in a spreadsheet cell is a *version* of the value
hidden in that cell, according to the formatting of that cell - which
you may have set explicitly or may have been determined from what you
typed or pasted. For your spreadsheets to work, you need to be aware of
the format type of all your data.
o When you type values into a spreadsheet, they are - possibly invisibly
- edited by the software to determine what is actually stored in the
cell. This is a convenience, in fact, but will confuse you if you have
not learned the basics about spreadsheets. (You will not be the first
person to make this mistake.)
It seemed quickly much easier to sign in to Google. Goodbye.
You are very welcome, of course, to choose to use any alternative
software you wish. Yes, really. But if speed means to you avoiding
learning about the tool and about your own mistakes, you will find the
same problems in the future. Google's offering will behave in a very
similar way; if it didn't, users would be complaining! In particular, if
you enter your data there *in exactly the same way* (do not confuse
typing with pasting, for example), you will see the same results there.
Why not - instead of complaining that OpenOffice doesn't work - ask
about your problem on the mailing list and learn the solution?
I have little patience when companies make simple tasks complicated.
Again, this makes no sense:
o You cannot say that you have "little patience" with something after
claiming to have used it for years!
o Surely you know enough about OpenOffice to appreciate that it is
created by a cooperative venture, not a "company"?
o Like most things, when you understand it, you will find the way
spreadsheets work a convenience, not a complication.
OK: now to your problem. If you have managed to enter values as text
instead of as numbers, you will not expect to be able to calculate with
them. But there are easy solutions. You may need to set the format of
cells before you enter data (though you probably don't, in fact). If you
have entered values inappropriately, there are easy ways to correct your
mistake. You can find these in the help text, in the documentation
available from the web site (you have read this, haven't you?), through
a web search, or by asking on this mailing list.
It always amuses me when people making such claims choose to advertise
them to hundreds, perhaps a thousand or two, of fellow users around the
world, most of whom will understand the software well enough not to find
the same problems. Why not describe your problem instead and obtain help?
I trust this helps.
Brian Barker - privately
On 2/14/2018 3:31 PM, Winter wrote:
This is why after years I have now stopped using Open Office and
switched to Google Apps. I am a programmer. I quickly dump software
that does not comply to User Ergonomics. It should be simple and
intuitive. Especially the simplest task. All I wanted was to set up a
budget like I have many time in Open Office but the Sum command now
does not sum. Why? I read online suggestions which mentioned it could
have something to do with the value being treated as Text with no
explanation to convert them to numerical values. It seemed quickly
much easier to sign in to Google. Goodbye. I have little patience when
companies make simple tasks complicated.
