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Am 15.02.2018 um 13:40 schrieb Winter:
> This is inappropriate. My comments may have been rude. But I am not
> your employ.
>
>
>
> -------- Forwarded Message --------
> Subject:     Re: Google Apps
> Date:     Thu, 15 Feb 2018 09:57:15 +0000
> From:     Brian Barker <[email protected]>
> To:     Gary Leroy Wampnar <[email protected]>
>
>
>
> 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
>
>


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