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Comment: Re:Lock-in? (Score 1) 589

Glad to help. And mostly, yes. For instance, a search of "VLOOKUP" shows 3 topics (Handling of Empty Cells, Options, and Spreadsheet Functions), and the topic "Spreadsheet Functions" does include help for VLOOKUP, yet it doesn't take you to an anchor within the topic. So you have to search within that link for the actual VLOOKUP wording (which as you'd expect is also listed under LOOKUP, also on the same page).

As a result, the topics tend to be longer than necessary for a specific keyword / function.

Comment: Re:How compatible is it? (Score 3, Interesting) 192

Yes and no. Even between Office 2007 and 2010, documents don't always look the same... we have run into this for pretty simple documents. I have no idea why it's so ridiculously complicated that even the software provider can't get it right, but I'm guessing it has more to do with trying to intentionally hurt interoperability than anything else.

Call me a cynic, but I've been around for a very very long time and I've seen a lot of poor sportsmanship in the Microsoft camp.

The funny thing is now we're intentionally using older versions of MS Office simply because everyone hasn't learned the 2007 version yet, so what's the use of overloading everyone by going to the newest version every 2-3 years? The couple of users who will benefit can have the upgrade. The rest can have an upgrade every x versions.

Comment: Re:In other news (Score 1) 663

by StuartHankins (#44915323) Attached to: Apple Starts Blocking Unauthorized Lightning Cables With iOS 7
They waited a very long time to do it, and (coincidentally?) the bad press about the electrocution has just occurred recently. I can imagine someone at Apple having a cow over that one. It's not entirely unreasonable for them to think this way. They're pretty controlling about all aspects of design and manufacture and for this one thing to occur must have been a "KHAAAAANNNNNNNNN!!!" moment.

Comment: Best is two shifts with some recovery time between (Score 4, Interesting) 311

by StuartHankins (#44907205) Attached to: Ask Slashdot: Does Your Work Schedule Make You Unproductive?
Now that's just me, but taking a break and stepping back makes a huge boost to my productivity. I also code best late at night because I'm not distracted or disturbed and can get into something without worrying about a schedule. I can do several days of 10-12 hours if needed but not more than that before work quality suffers.

Comment: Re:Good idea but... (Score 1) 426

by StuartHankins (#44875205) Attached to: With XP's End of Life, Munich Will Distribute Ubuntu CDs
Sorry for the other thread... this one says an OEM builder can install OEM Windows on a VM.

Q. Can I install OEM on a virtual machine (VMware)?
A. You may install OEM in a virtual environment as long as you have a separate license for each instance of the software. It is fine to use the OEM version as long as it is properly licensed. To be clear, a separate version of software must be installed for both the “standard” and “virtual” installations.

(from http://www.microsoft.com/OEM/en/Pages/support-faq.aspx ) So you can't use the same OEM license for both the host and the guest (which makes sense), but it appears that you can use the OEM license on the guest only. I have no idea whether once installed on physical hardware if you can transfer that license to a VM. Why do they make this so confusing?


by StuartHankins (#44875147) Attached to: With XP's End of Life, Munich Will Distribute Ubuntu CDs
I hear you... and I haven't found anything to indicate that XP OEM licenses can be virtualized, but strangely enough this is explicitly allowed in Windows 8.

For Windows operating system software licenses acquired through the OEM channel, the Windows use rights are outlined in the Software License Terms that accompany the software. These license terms provide use rights to run Windows locally on the licensed device in a virtual operating system environment (OSE).

(from page 1 of the document http://download.microsoft.com/download/9/8/D/98D6A56C-4D79-40F4-8462-DA3ECBA2DC2C/Licensing_Windows_Desktop_OS_for_Virtual_Machines.pdf ).


by StuartHankins (#44873769) Attached to: With XP's End of Life, Munich Will Distribute Ubuntu CDs
I know it's been mentioned elsewhere... make a VM out of the XP box. This works surprisingly well. Whatever host OS you decide to use shouldn't matter a great deal so long as you have the disk space and memory to accomplish it. For business use, my XP VM has only 1.5GB allocated and will run acceptably in 1GB.

If this is timesharing, give me my share right now.