Yep, especially when there is a distal part of the code where the array length is changed, but the variable holding the length is not updated. Yep, easy to spot.

Of course, good coding habits can make that easier to spot, but generally speaking, I've seen errors like that crop up here an there. The only way to fix this "error in excel" is to make the user interface less friendly for the less technical users. And then they'll just move to another application with this "error".

or in a language that doesn't automatically have a length indicator for your array, any value is possible (so no 'null terminators'), and you have to keep another variable to tell you it's length. If you don't update that, you may miss a lot of stuff at the end. Which is exactly what happened in Excel.

Even then, it's only if you add it at the end, and don't 'insert' a row. If you use 'insert row', Excel automatically adjusts the ranges that you do not explicitly tell it not to adjust... I.E. if you have sum(C5:C$9), that '9' will never move, no matter what rows you insert/delete, but the 5 may go up or down.

Then most people wouldn't use it.

You are not restricted to that mechanism (and I usually avoid it myself), but most users would have some difficulty with it. Mind you, any technical user should know better, but you'd be surprised at the number of minimally technical people in the various sciences, when it comes to things outside of their focus.

And, an example of how to cause this with a code rather than UI setup: If you add row to the end: how does it know to add it or not? there are multiple ways of doing this (insert, easy to understand, Excel handles it fine), but what if you are at the end of the spreadsheet, should it know that you are continuing on with the same theme, or that you are staring a new one? I've seen plenty of people put multiple tables on the same sheet.

It's still user error. And the problem wouldn't be eliminated with your suggestion, just altered. Even with horrible vision, I can still see both the highlighted color and the outlines of the cell without much difficulty.

Unless it's open source, and then it's user error no matter what!

That was the first thing I thought. If it were LibreOffice or OpenOffice, and possibly Apple Numbers, they would have properly attributed it to user error (not as certain with Apple, /. can go either way with them).

But of course, since it is MS, this is a program error.

Odd. My general experience is that they keep the old APIs, but shuffle to favoring new ones.

If you want broken backwards compatibility, go for Apple, and even then they had a good reason for it. Still, they have the dominant position here, not MS. Maybe you should be more worried about them?

I suspect this is more a troll than a shill. A shill would hopefully use more skill.

Otherwise, I agree with your post.

Um... If you think those things can't be done with Flash or HTML5... That's your problem. Don't inflict your lack of creativity and programming ability on us.

That being said, Flash still needs to die in a fire for being the biggest cross-platform security vulnerability on the internet. Given the Silverlight is probably only "safe" due to a low user base... It can jump in the pit too.

Having used a Windows Phone 7, iPhone and Android... I wouldn't call the phone shitty, even if it did flop. From the looks of it, for the mobile platform, Windows 8 is an improvement, rather than a step back, unlike the desktop.

The problem with Windows Phone isn't the OS or the hardware, it's the pathetic PR department of MS, and the preconceptions of users (some of which are very well founded, so it's actually rational for them not to even bother trying).

usually variables rather than scripts, and most are, it's just not documented WHERE.

IIRC, you still need to install a classic start menu applet (3rd party), and if you want quicklaunch, you still need to install an app for that...

They exist, and you have options, but the options don't seem as good as the builtins for XP, and most users aren't going to bother going out and downloading them.

True, but MS cannot sustain an 'every other version is a flub' business model. People may stick with 7 like they stuck with XP, but MS will need to fix the UI and quickly.

Hopefully they'll soon realize that the desktop and mobile platforms need different UI models, and start supporting the separate primary interface models...

I like some Microsoft products, but honestly, if they ditch Windows, and move their products to .NET... then ensure the .NET platform runs on Apple, Linux and a few other platforms (not terribly hard, since the tech is mostly there anyway), I think they might see some improvement.

TBH... I like what Windows was for a short time, in the 2000-XP era, when most of the security holes had been patched, and 7 is OK... but they are majorly ruining the UI. They are trying to be clever, edgy and push the envelope... but doing so in a manner that copies Apple, and tries to go one step further. So they not only lose the 'clever' appearance, for a copycat appearance, but they are copying some of the worst changes for the desktop environment, that Apple is making.

Then again... except for businesses, and a relatively small number of hobbyists, the desktop will be mostly eliminated in the next 5-10 years. So... Windows dieing on the desktop may not be such a big thing for MS. The people who will keep it, are probably the least likely to use Windows (except businesses). The desktop is for creating, most users are simply are fine with consuming, and they'll move to portable platforms which make that easier. Even the portable platforms are starting to be good with producing - particularly multimedia which doesn't require much typing. MS has the possibility to catch-up on the portable side, but it's isn't likely, even though they have a great mobile product, that market is fairly strongly set with other good/great products, and it will be a hard battle, one MS's prodigally inept PR department can only lose.

It is expensive as a hobby if you can get Express for free and don't need the features of Pro.

Pro is nice. I have it. But only because there are a couple plugins that don't work well with Express, and I really wanted them.