Numbers: disappointment of the year :(

[cube]

I don't like these neutered Numbers and iMovie releases.

I won't be getting iLife '08 or iWork '08.

 

[gnasher729]

From the definition, it doesn't sound like droves of people would use this feature in Excel.

Wiki:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Error_bar

I think pivot tables will be missed by more people. Perhaps "Error Bars" could be something a developer could make a killing if enough people want this feature outside of Excel. An addon for Numbers.

Just checked the article. So all you do is take a column of your data, add a column (original data + standard deviation), and another column (original data - standard deviation) and plot the three columns together...

Well, I could see that I might just about manage to draw error bars myself in Numbers...

 

[RedSe7en]

Ok - time for a little heart to heart about SDLC...

I must stress that error bars are not an advanced data analysis feature. They long pre-date computers or even calculators.

+1 I agree - it should be in there.

Furthermore, Numbers, unlike Pages or Keynote, is specifically intended to be a spreadsheet and graphing program. It is intended to be used to make graphs. The absence of error bars in this context is analogous to ommitting the capacity to indent paragraphs, or include punctuation in a word processor.

-1 Disagree - Only in scientific measurement - lots of financial data can be delivered without this feature.

1) people have been begging Apple include this feature in Pages and Keynote for YEARS, and those aren't even dedicated graphing programs,

-1 Apparently not - delivered software functionality is decided solely on a cost/benefit ratio. Just because you want it, doesn't mean everyone else does.

2) it is trival for the software engineers to include this feature - it would cost nothing to include,

-1 God, how many idiot bosses you remind me of. Try MAN HOURS. Requirements gathering, development, testing, documentation - IT ALL COSTS MONEY. Anyone who uses this argument has no business commenting on software quality - because they have no idea what goes into creating software.

3) error bars are basic and fundemental to the intended purpose of this application.

+1 Agreed.

And I disagree- there is shame. Indeed, so incredible and outlandish was the omission of error bars from the Keynote and Pages graphing functions that many speculated that Apple had an "understanding" with Microsoft not to tread on their territory. Their absence from Numbers is even more remarkable, and reinforces this suspicion. The result is a product that cannot replace MS's software. If this is true, then its creators have deliberately made an otherwise outstanding product a lame duck.
*That* is a shame.

Spare me your Kennedy Assassination theory. Its about money - which is what good software is always about. If no one will use it - it'll never become better. Yes, some people in science and engineering (myself included) are pissed off about some of these features - but far more important are the number of consumers who are switching from microsoft works to iWork (like my parents). They represent a larger demographic, and i think the trading scientific/statistical functionality for a more simplistic, intuitive product is a smart move by the product manager for Apple.

BTW, the developers rarely get to decide what features make the grade. Only in cases where they have rare domain knowledge. Marketing's job is to figure out what to build.

 

[doctorgerms]

re: Formula question

new to this...is there a way to set a formula to calculate amount of time in hrs and minutes (or even just minutes) between two given dates and times?

i.e. A2 = 6/8/08 08:35
B2 = 6/10/08 14:35
C2 = formula to calculate the difference between B2 & A2

 

[weg]

I just feel sorry for anyone that actually has a job that necessitates the use of Excel

Matt

There are very few jobs for which iTunes, QuickTime, and iPhoto are sufficient. Most of the jobs do require some software that does not come from Apple.