Excel Experts-Exchange Regulars, take 3

Jeroen,
When I visited the Forbidden City in Beijing, China, I saw a museum of clocks. Apparently, the emperor had many wives and concubines--and didn't want any of them to lose face for want of proper attention. So keeping accurate time became very important in the Chinese court. Unfortunately, there was no market for accurate clocks elsewhere in China, so the local technology never developed.

But England in the time of Henry VIII was on the rise, with the merchant class flourishing  over the next 200 years. I believe that the use of Microsoft Excel would have been eagerly embraced by these merchants, thereby increasing their power. The gradual transfer of power from the King (and House of Lords) to the Prime Minister (and House of Commons) would have been accelerated by this increase in power of the merchant class. As a result, the first child of a shopkeeper to become PM would not be Margaret Thatcher, but rather someone else back in the 1840's--who likely would have developed an entirely different solution for the Irish famine.
Brad

Brad,
Imagine that it would worked out. The power of the English would rise in those days, then the situation might be different nowadays if that Economic power was that great that the Vatican could be afraid and agree with the divorce of Henry VIII So he had no reason to set up his own church and England would be still catholic. In this situation there wouldn't be a dispute between England  and Ireland.

Another thing would be that those merchant would gave that Excel also to other merchants in other countries and the Netherlands would also have it. Otherwise William III would gain Excel in 1650 when he became king of England. The Dutch could calculate much better and would never sold New York back to the English in 1674. Imagine then that in the USA you were not speaking English, instead Dutch. What a beautfull world we wold have all people speaking those nice words with those rough "G".
Jeroen

But American English still has many direct borrowings from Dutch. E.g:

Cookie instead of Biscuit (dutch Koekje)
Furlough instead of Leave (Verlof)
Bank Teller instead of Cashier (Tellen = to count)
Santa Claus instead of Father Christmas (SinterKlaas)

Even Yankee is reckoned to be a corruption of Janke (=Johnny)

I got an e-mail regarding the roll-out of the new user interface. The following two paragraphs tell the story:

"We have set the date for the full rollout of the new site, which will be Tuesday, February 13th, 2007.  We are targeting about 3pm Pacific time in the afternoon.  We will not have the legacy (current live) site available in any way after we roll the new site completely live on this date.  Until we reach that date, we will be incrementally increasing the traffic to the new site to validate the servers with the new site pages and to fix any issues brought forth in this “live” testing."

"We know that we will be getting a lot of feedback, both positive and critical, on the new site and its functionality.  Please be prepared for this, and be professional in how you respond to criticism and “flames” from unhappy users.  We do want to allow people to express their dissatisfaction, but we have high expectations from all of you to recognize and acknowledge the bugs & issues AND to be positive about the improvements and about the fact that we are listening and incorporating feedback from all users of Experts Exchange.  The best place for users to give feedback in terms of bugs/UI issues is using the feedback button near the top right of all new site pages, or the feedback link on the Contact Us page."

I don't know if a new version of QuickPost will be ready when the new site launches. Until it is, you may want to set up filters for quicker access to your favorite TAs. To do this:
1) Go to the new site at http://www-new.experts-exchange.com/
2) Click the "Edit" button under "Favorites" on the right of the web page
3) Check the boxes for the TAs you want to follow. Note that there are many paths to get to these TAs. Checking the box for the Excel TA in one path is sufficient.

Ameba needs to be put on the payroll and QP put on the critical functionality list. Don't these guys realize that QP = productivity and faster responses = happier customers...

...and we don't have to deal with the fluffy new eye candy that consumes more screen real estate than the actual content.

Kevin

> We will not have the legacy (current live) site available in any way
> don't know if a new version of QuickPost will be ready
> QP put on the critical functionality list

This is unbelievable!  What purpose does it serve to remove all access to the old site?  The old-old-look site remained (remains?) alive for a long time after the now-old site was implemented.  This seems to show a complete disregard for the experts who volunteer their time here and happen to use QP as their tool for managing their contributions.

> have to deal with the fluffy new eye candy that consumes more screen real estate than the actual content.

That is being kind.  At best it's annoying and at worse it's dysfunctional.  Even if QP wasn't around I would still prefer the old site for it's no-nonsense approach to getting the job done.  And, attracting paying customers not withstanding, isn't that what this site suppose to be about?

:P

Jim

They need to implement a supported and well-maintain no nonsense "I'm an expert helping you guys make money at no charge and I don't want ANY eye candy - just the facts" site/motif/page/whatever. Better yet, officially recognize QP and open up a priority XML or SOAP service so that it doesn't have to wade through all the HTML crap. Google did. They may be pleasing the new users looking for that "wow" experience but, meanwhile, they are pissing off and frustrating the very people who make the new users come to the site in the first place. Is there any regular who actually gave them any positive feedback other than "looks purty!"

Kevin

Well said, Kevin.  I think I'm still in shock and more than a little pissed-off about this!

Jim

Thank you all for concuring with my thoughts.

Should there be no access to the "old" site content/layout after next week, then my involvement, although limited since the start of this year, will now be approximately none.

:(


Having RSS feeds for notification (of new posts to subscribed questions, and new questions to a specific Topic Area), and handling replies to question by e-mail may persuade me, but I do not know if these two features will be incorporated in the new site roll-out.

*And* I still haven't received the T-Shirt NetMinder mentioned (on 30 October 2006) would be sent to me in recognition of my past contributions.

On 30 December 2006 I did receive a reply to my query on a delivery date, however,...
===
*LMAO*... I get mail from a guy in India every other week asking about them. I hate to say how many times I've told him "sometime after the new year"... but I did ask about them the other day, and they're still more or less on the schedule they planned -- probably sometime right around the middle of January. If I hear anything different, I'll holler.
===


Ho-hum...

BFN,

fp.

Mmm, I've been dreading this day. Even though we have broadband now, it's still taking a good 10-15 second to load, so I've stayed with the live site.

I did set up some Alert filters though. With an Add-in for Outlook, I've been able to manage these pretty well and they get to me in a reasonably prompt manner.

>>fluffy new eye candy

Have they got the "Expert Skin" operational yet?

>Have they got the "Expert Skin" operational yet?
Do they know who the "experts" are? Do they care? Ameba is fiddleing with his code less than 48 hours before the dreaded moment. The suits are, in my opinion, vastly more concerned about pretty and pretending that it means something as in Mac and Vista than they are in the assembly line workers that make the damn product that actually brings people to the site and convinces them to fork over cash to ask questions.

Kevin

i sent an e-mail to feedback@experts-exchange.com stating:

"Although you expect a certain amount of complaints whenever change occurs, the decision to shut down the legacy site when the new one goes up is causing many top experts to question their continued involvement. If QuickPost worked on the new site, that would cover over many of the misgivings. But the twin events of closing down the legacy site and no QuickPost means that many top experts will stop participating. And the ones in my TA (Excel) doing the most complaining are the ones who have put the most points so far this year."

"Please rethink the decision to turn off the legacy site when the new one goes live. Otherwise, a different group of people will start complaining--the paying customers who aren't getting questions answered. And when questions don't get timely and high quality answers, what is the point of continuing to pay for premium membership."

Brad

Thanks Brad. Talk about cutting it close and hoping the magic still happens. Whoever is running the show in SLO town is not playing with a full deck.

Maybe we should mutiny and take over the ship. We're the experts - the're just suits with money to hire lackeys to do their bidding.

Kevin

Kevin,
Remember that the owners are not "suits". Considering their previous occupation (which I assume they still practice), it is more likely that they spend their days wearing blue jeans and a flannel shirt.

It should also be pointed out that the result of an EE mutiny is a ship without sailors, not a ship being run by the sailors instead of the captain.

That said, if questions aren't getting answered then the complaints by paying customers will surely get elevated to the right level when those customers start complaining. That's the gamble that EE management is making.
Brad

Anyone making key business decisions that impact the direction and health of a company are "suits" in my book. I actually haven't seen a real suit in years. Except maybe on a few sales guys and die hard IBM techs.

A mutiny, from my learnings, is when the sailors take over the ship as with the HMS Bounty: "On the morning of April 28th, 1789, led by Masters Mate Fletcher Christian, twelve crewmembers staged the now famous mutiny, capturing the ship, and setting Lt. Bligh and his supporters adrift in the ship's launch."

Do we have a ship's launch?

Kevin

New Congrats thread for Kevin-- http:/Q_22158757.html

Thanks Brad.  If I missed any previous poll, or open question, regarding the new site, I will be the first to apologise, but I appreciate your efforts to redress the balance of power :)

On the subject of removing unwanted screen rubbish (read: advertising, etc), I use the "Adblock Plus" Extension (Add-On) within Mozilla Firefox:

[ https://addons.mozilla.org/firefox/1865/ ]


BFN,

fp.

And I thought it was just me that was unimpressed! The time I've wasted continually resetting my cookies every time they redirect me to the new site....
There does seem to be a definite similarity to Vista so far - very pretty but I don't seem to have gained anything and most things seem harder to find and/or do. On the other hand, it's always the same with a transition like this, so I'll give myself time to adjust before deciding I hate it! :) There may be lots of goodies that I just haven't uncovered yet - fingers crossed. And at least I got my T-shirt... :^P
Rory

QP - No loss, don't use it as I don't like it. Vista, don't know, haven't got it and am unlikely to get it any time soon. New interface - if the new owners like it then they must hope it will make them some more money - can't see how, but as long as they're happy with the investment that must be good enough. However I do wonder at times whether they forget who earns them their money. Mind you there seems an endless supply of new people willing to work for free for them, so why should they care too much. It must be one of the smartest business models around. It's even better than outsourcing to India or China. We're not even paid a bowl of rice a day - so you can't beat our wages. Our contribution is not subject to tax, state boundaries or national customs duties; there's little or no liability with regard to our recommendations and the customers pay for it - almost perfect - roll on 13th February 2007.

Meanwhile if anyone holds back in answering, it'll give Kevin free reign to get to slot #1 in a couple of weeks. Come on Kevin, what are you waiting for...

Patrick

Amusing watching poor Ameba frantically trying to get QP working: http://www.experts-exchange.com/Community_Support/ExpertCare/Input/Q_21847362.html

Appears the effort didn't start until Jim posted a tickler a few days ago.

Didn't anyone get on a white board and draw the lines between manufacturing and the showroom floor?

What a mess this is turning out to be: no QP in site and expert mode still pie in the sky...and they are turning off the old site this afternoon. Yikes! The monkeys are loose!

Kevin

Even using the "Expert" (not properly finished but better than nothing) skin why, oh why, are the question titles truncated to a stupidly short character count.  On my widescreen 17" laptop (running 1680 x 1050 pixels) it just looks ridiculous!

PS. This a Comment not a Proposed Solution.

BFN,

fp.

And the post entry area is a fraction of the size it used to or needs to be.

Kevin

I feel like I'm adding throw-away comments to a Blog, or to a Flickr photo now.

But the title truncation is just a pain in the a...

PPS. Do I really care about the accuracy of the time-keeping of when a question was posted?

For example:
[ http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_22387267.html ]
"Author:GregJRob Date:2007-02-13 16:54:46.0 | Points: 500..."

46.0?  Huh?

And another thing... with the "Expert" skin I cannot see who has posted a question awaiting an answer without clicking into it.

With the number of bag experiences I have had with question askers I now have to look at every question to see if I should ignore it, or not!?! %)

And with a Blog comment I could at least go back & change "bag experiences" to read "bad experiences" :)

OK... next gripe...

I can click to "Add to KnowledgeBase" [what used to be "Bookmarks"] but cannot see these easily.

A link beneath "My Favorites" would have been a good idea.

And can we have an "Expert Friendly" link like the "Printer Friendly" one? ;)

BFN,

fp.

Oh for goodness sake.

Click the "Advanced" link beneath the [Find] button, and the drop-down options are too large to fit inside the combo-boxes provided.

Who tested this site?

Where have you been, buddy? You should see the activity in QP land. Talk about 24th hour hustle. This is one huge cluster *&%$ that is probably the result of over commitments by the engineers who spent way, way too much time on sliding headers and far too little time on display of content, a severe lack of serious UI talent, no one to ask the question "uh, fellas, who actually makes the product we sell - perhaps we should consider them first", and some big money that put the screws in so hard the wimpy PM didn't have the balls to say "sir, we just aren't ready yet".

Thems my two cents.

Sure is purdy though! Love that rock and grass in the support TA. Makes me feel so peaceful and enabled. Any bigger and I could use the page as wallpaper. It's one huge art project with some technical answers in the footnotes.

(I've been busy in the Gaming forum I am the [UK] Moderator of... but Brad has already asked me not to mention that in my signatures, so I won't)              <<But you can find the link in his member profile--Brad>>

And for the love of e-mail content, why are the titles truncated there also?
===
A Possible Solution Has Been Added!
Hello, fanpages!
A possible solution has been added to this question:
Question: Excel Experts-Exchange Regu...
Zone: Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software
Comment From: zorvek
===

?!?!


Purdy or not... the author of a comment is not prominent enough too, I feel.

PS. (All) - My (January 2007) Microsoft Action Pack Subscription package arrived today, including all the previously listed titles, and these updates...

Microsoft Windows Vista Upgrade Business (Part No. X13-37548 EN) DVD
Microsoft Office Enterprise 2007 (Part No. X13-35827 EN) DVD

and a third DVD (Part No. X13-38154 EN) containing...

Microsoft Office Sharepoint Designer 2007
Microsoft Expression Web
Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager
Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007
Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007
Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server Enterprise 2007


As I mentioned in the previous "Regulars" question, not a bad deal for GBP 199.99 :)

BFN,

fp.

As I didn't qualify as a 'Partner', I went the Technet route. £280 but still considerably cheaper than buying Vista and Office 2007 (plus I get Office 2003 and various other bits of software too).
FWIW
Rory

Hi Rory,

Why could you not just pay the £199 [like I did] for joining the Action Pack Subscription (Partner) programme?

BFN,

fp.

PS.
All:

I have posted my gripes with the new site (so far) in the recommend question thread:

"Feedback on Experts Exchange New Site Rollout Announcement"
[ http://www.experts-exchange.com/Community_Support/Announcements/Q_22377762.html ]

BFN,

fp.

The terms of use describing who qualifies as a Partner did not apply to me. I am not a company, software support is not my job, I do not make a living producing MS solutions. I was going to apply anyway, then I looked at the questionnaire thing you have to fill out...
Rory
PS I'm also trying to think of a reason why I need another MSDN Universal subscription at work...(things were much easier whan I was the IT Manager)

And are Microsoft going to check your answers?  Nobody has rung me to verify.  I did not have to state my registered Company Name or Number; just a contact address.

I filled out the paperwork for the Action Pack Subscription and submitted credit card payment in full. I then got an e-mail a few days later informing me that I needed a company name instead of my own name. After responding that I did tech support under my own name, I was told that Microsoft's software required that the name of the individual be different from the name of the company--and that if I did not change the name within 24 hours my order would be declined. I didn't take too kindly to this communique, and so did nothing. Sure enough, three days later Microsoft cancelled my order.

Sounds like Technet was the right way to go - I figured for an extra £80 I don't have to worry about any comeback or hassle from MS and I still save a pile on the software I wanted! Of course, that assumes I didn't miss something in the fine print...

In their e-mail, Microsoft suggested that I could make my company name Brad Yundt ?Consultant?
Thinking that the ? was meant to be part of the company name, I wasn't too impressed.

Brad, really. I don't believe you didn't just tell them your trading name - Brad Yundt Consulting. They would hardly do a Company's registration check before processing your order.

Why not start the process again with them and give them almost any trading name that you care to go with. Certainly in the UK many companies have trading names that they use on an everyday basis which is in some case totally different to the registered company name. I guess much the same in the USA.

Patrick?ab?

Got this from Netminder regarding one of my flames tossed at the SLO town suits:

""...And no one thought to speak to Ameba about QP?..."
 
ameba has had Page Editor privileges for over a year. That includes access to the discussions among the Page Editors, Moderators and Administrators about the new site (for that matter, I asked him specifically, some weeks ago, if he needed any information from us regarding the site). He has also had access to Engineering. But EE neither sanctioned the creation of it, nor has EE or the administrative team ever officially considered it part of Experts Exchange; we (as the administrative team) have given it minimal support -- the help page section about it -- mostly to discourage others from doing the same thing. We know Bruno, know his skills, and know that his program has not had any adverse affects on the systems at EE. We can't say the same about someone else, but we have done our best to discourage any suggestion by any other member who says they want to build a tool like QuickPost.
 
We can even make a pretty good case that in some ways, QuickPost is one of the worst things to ever happen to EE. A good number of people have gotten an awful lot of points by posting what I call "spaghetti answers" using QuickPost; they'll use what is otherwise a useful tool to post a comment hoping that it will be close enough, or broad enough, that no one else will post, and they'll get the points -- and in the meantime, EE winds up with a solution that is really just a handful of wet noodles thrown against a wall."

Can you believe it? These people are more stupid (or more ignorant - is that the same thing?) than I thought! They don't just ignore QP - they work against it and what it represents!

Needless to say I mentioned to him that during my first 150K points in Excel I knew nothing of QP and yet, because it's the nature of the beast, started using Word's outlining function to create my first knowledge base noodles, er, I mean entries.

Who are these guys? Do they really want to make money or do they want to make some kind of statement? This going beyond pissing me off to just plain funny.

With regard to Brad's big battle with the evil empire - he needs to understand that the $300 is more than they would have gotten otherwise for the 10 cents worth of DVDs and they really don't give a rat's ass if a few thousand people each send them $300 under a fictitious name and give a copy of Office 2007 to Grandma. They are a little more interested in the guy making and sending out thousands of fake DVDs - they don't get any money from him. My company name is Kevster's Code Mart.

Kevin

Kevin,

> This going beyond pissing me off

Then this should really get you going.  It looks like the old site never did go away.  According to angelIII here: http:Q_21847362.html#18535763 , there is a "beta" site that looks surprisingly familiar.  And, QP seems to be mostly (not completely) working so far.  Ahh, but I'm sure the site will be gone by tomorrow...

Monkeys indeed!

Jim

> but I'm sure the site will be gone by tomorrow...

And so it is...

Jim

My misery continues...

"And are Microsoft going to check your answers?  Nobody has rung me to verify.  I did not have to state my registered Company Name or Number; just a contact address."

Sorry... I should not have been so cryptic.

What I meant was that whatever Company name I used it did not have to be registered.

So, yes, you could have typed just about anything that read like it may be a Company name.

For the hell of it, you could've typed "Experts Exchange".

---

I don't understand why the ass of the rat is considered the worse part.

The whole damn rat is pretty awful.

Debug.Print Replace("But then that would lead quite nicely into talk about E-E members leaving the s[t]inking ship!", "p", "t")

(and that *was* a 'Proposed Solution')

BFN,

fp.

Nigel - you are too funny dude!

Needed in times like these :-)

Kevin

:)  I do try, Kevin.  [I'm very trying... etc.]

I often bumble through thinking why the knees of a bee are considered to be their best part.


And as for a canine's spherical objects; does the phrase mean good or bad?


BFN,

fp.

---
[ http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/the-bees-knees.html ]
[ http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/dog's%20bollocks.html ]

All:
Check out the work Expert "VirusMinus" has reported in the official new site gripe question:

[ http://www.experts-exchange.com/Community_Support/Announcements/Q_22377762.html#a18546346 ]


"Folks,

I've been tinkering with the new site UI using 'Stylish' an add-on for Firefox that allows you to load your own CSS for chosen sites.

I whipped up something, that should please the old timers around here. A skin with a bit of ye old, bit of the new, and some of the newest.

Overall I'm fairly satisfied with what i've been able to come up with. Reminds me a lot of the last design, and has some colors/aspects of the older site which i loved."

<snip>
===

BFN,

fp.

(Those who are affected/interested)
Netminder's response to my enquiry regarding expectation of the promised T-Shirts...

"PPS. Netminder: When am I going to receive my T-Shirt?  The British Summer (of three days) is only 4 months away, and you have been promising some free promotion for Experts-Exchange at the risk of my health since 30 October last year."

[ http://www.experts-exchange.com/Community_Support/Announcements/Q_22377762.html#a18547006 ]

"From what I have been told, the shirts for the certs should be going out in a couple of weeks. I have been dutifully collecting addresses since the end of October, and the office tells me they're almost ready for them. Personally, I'm glad I live six hours away, so I don't have to stuff envelopes..."


BFN,

fp.

Guys:

How can I just view the Excel questions in Expert view?  I am having a heck of a time trying to figure out how to even find the questions to answer in this new interface.  I guess that's what I get for taking a couple weeks off.

Jaes

Jaes,

This link will take you to the Excel questions using the 'Expert' skin:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/viewOpenZoneQuestions.jsp?taid=604&loqOrderBy=null&loqSort=null

Patrick

Patrick:

You are a gentleman and a scholar and to you I give my sincere gratitude.  I was having a heck of a time trying to figure that out.

Jaes

Jaes,

It's my pleasure. Despite all the moans and groans about the appearance of the new EE interface I reckon it works OK - once one has got used to it.

Regards

Patrick

...It still seems like a beta release, though.

Filtering doesn't work, and the "Expert" skin isn't finished.

Microsoft do not seem to be the only organisation that rely on unpaid testing resources, it seems.

BFN,

fp.

Nigel,

Yes, but for my purposes it meets the need.

Patrick

>>Filtering doesn't work

My filters work OK. I have 4 setup, but have the alerts turned on for only one of them. For example I have one filter just for Answered Excel questions (so I can peruse some of the clever solutions :) It's set up like this....

The word - excel - must appear in the area of the question
AND Only show questions submitted; Within past 3 days
AND Questions must be in one of the selected topic areas - MS Excel
AND Points awarded must be between 0 and 500
Questions must have Accepted Solutions
AND You will receive 25 results per page

Nigel, for your enjoyment: http://www.seriouswheels.com/cars/top-Subaru-Impreza-WRX-STi-Photography-by-Webb-Bland.htm

Wayne,
You're already filtering to MS Excel, why also search for the word excel in the area of the question?

As for filters, it took a bit of adjusting but it isn't that bad. I'm hoping everything is still being worked out (columns especially), as I liked the way the main TA page looked on the last site, but at least the filters allow me to see multiple TAs. I have two bookmarks in my toolbar folder, one for new questions:
1 Only show questions submitted; Within past 3 days
2 AND Questions must be in one of the selected topic areas - ...
3 AND You will receive 100 results per page

and one for old (thanks to Netminder at http:/Q_22391371.html)
1 Only show questions submitted; Within past 30 days
2 AND Questions must be in one of the selected topic areas - MS Excel
3  Questions must have Accepted Solutions
4 AND You will receive 100 results per page

>>why also search for the word excel in the area of the question?

Dunno. I probably thought it wouldn't know what to look for if I left it out. Works just as well without it though.

I've noticed that the list of questions for which I have received an 'Accepted' tag are not always from the Excel zone - even though in the Technical Areas I only ever visit the Excel TA. The result of this is that I believe that some of the points I am earning are are not accumulated in the Excel total.

How do I make sure that I don't waste my time on non-Excel questions - as I have little or no interest in other TAs?

Help from Experts please...

Patrick,

I have been yelling and screaming a while now and I have learned the following:

Points are accumulated in up to three zones per question (that's the maximum zones in which a Q can be posted). If you get 2,000 points for a Q you get 2,000 points in all three. The overall total is only increased by 2,000 however. The problem you and I have is we have no idea what the two secondary zones are unless we carefully monitor our zone totals - and that is only applicable after the Q is answered. I and others have stated in no uncertain terms that listing the other zones in which a Q is posted is very much desired. I do know that mods and PEs can see them and even change them.

If you, like me, only want to focus on one zone (Excel for example) then you are best off using this list:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/viewOpenZoneQuestions.jsp?taid=604&loqOrderBy=null&loqSort=null

From what I can tell these are Qs that are posted in Excel as the primary zone.  Doing so however will limit you to only those Qs and not others where Excel is one of the two secondary zones. While I still focus primarily on Excel I have, at least for now, given up my desire to only have Excel points and am going for other zones like VB.

One of the biggest problems of this cross posting is that other experts in other zones are posting in Excel Qs and some of their posts are pretty off the mark. Take this one for example:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_22404596.html

The first post is sort of close but very amateurish. Not a real solution. The second post is in C or something like C – completely worthless.

I have also seen some Qs with Excel as a secondary zone with a primary zone in the most bizare places like Windows OS. You can only see these if you set up a filter to show you all Qs with Excel as any of three zones.

Overall the new site is extremely confusing and, in my opinion, off the mark. But I am beginning to see some pretty cool features that, over time, will be drawn out and highlighted as the should be, and not buried in a pile of pretty and other junk. My favorite feature is the Questions in Progress section (lower half) of the Experts page.

Kevin

Kevin,

Thank you for that. I was in fact already using the link:

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/viewOpenZoneQuestions.jsp?taid=604&loqOrderBy=null&loqSort=null

and yet despite that I am still apparently answering questions from other TAs.

I dunno how to avoid it because until I've answered the question I don't know that I've just wasted my time on another TA. I'm not sure I can be bothered to answer questions if I can't control where the points are going. I've already scaled back and now I may well cut back, to even less. I'm not sure whether you reckon I'm still getting the points in the Excel TA even though the answer summary states the question originated in another TA.

As for those wierd answers - way off beam.

Patrick

My powers have been turned off for the weekend by a change pushed through on Friday, but I used to be able to see which zone was primary and which were secondary by going into the screen to edit the question.

Kevin's understanding of how points are awarded is correct. You will get full points (in Excel zone) for an Excel question where the primary zone is something off-base like FoxPro but Excel is a secondary zone. The fact that you are also accumulating points in those other backwaters shouldn't bother you--especially a Renaissance Man like Patrick, who had points in 29 TAs before snagging his first certificate.

Brad

Patrick,

-Go to http://www.experts-exchange.com/experts.jsp?etIndex=2#expertTools to create a filter
-Click the Zone section on the left
-Expand Microsoft, then under Microsoft expand Applications. Under that expand Microsoft Office, and check the box next to Excel.  Scroll down, and click 'Update'
-Scroll back up, and click the Date section on the left
-For Question Type, put Asked.  For Time Frame put 3 days (or anything other than 'Today').  Click Update again
-If you want to see more than 10 questions at a time, click the Display section on the left and change the results per page to whatever suits you. Click Update again.
-Scroll down, and under 'Filter Properties Query', create a title for it ("Excel unanswered"?). Check the box for Make this My Default Filter, then click the button for Create Filter

Now that your filter is created, look in the Zone column to see what the primary TA is for the questions in excel, and to see this list again all you have to do is click on the Experts tab

Matt

New Congrats thread, this time for 2*Genius Patrick M: http:/Q_22427558.html

Interesting?

[ http://dnScoop.com ]

"The estimated value of http://experts-exchange.com is: $11,592,000"

!

BFN,

fp.

Go See Frank Miller's new movie 300!

Ya? And my domain, www.zorvek.com, is worth $266. Since I know it isn't work much more than glass of lemonaid that puts EE somewhere in the $50,000 range.

300...rated about 8.6 out of 10 on IMDB. Only problem with it is it is rated R so I can't take my 13-year-old movie buddy.

Kevin

Matt,

Many thanks for that help.

Patrick

Jaes wrote:

> Go See Frank Miller's new movie 300!

Have not seen it, nor have I read the graphic novel.

If you *really* want a good story around the whole Thermopylae campaign, read Gates of Fire by Steven Pressfield.  Totally awesome.  One element you will find in Gates of Fire that you will not find in 300 (or at least not the film version of 300) is the fact that while the Spartans were in the lead, there were contingents from other cities (but not Athens!) there that fought bravely and well despite the staggeringly impossible odds.  Indeed, total Greek numbers may have been around 4,000 or more.  At the bitter end, 700 or so from Thespiae stood with the remaining Spartans.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae

It's all Greek to me...

Guys,

Your valued input is requested (by me :) -> http:/Q_22438617.html#a18695801

Cheers,

Wayne

Useful?

[ http://sheet.zoho.com/ ]

"Access anywhere
Create, edit and access your spreadsheets from anywhere

Share, don't attach
Share documents with your friends or publish them for public view

Import or Export Excel
Copy-n-paste from Excel or import an Excel file. You can also export back.

Build Mashups
Sync up with remote data from the web or use our APIs to build mashups."

BFN,

fp.

Have you guys taken a look at the "Internet Rank" link at the bottom of every page? It looks kinda interesting.

Oh yes, I can see the statistics such as "People who visit this page also visit: # Ask a Volcanologist  volcano.und.nodak.edu/vwdocs/ask_a.html" to be *so* useful!?!


PS. Matt...

The latest in my "fleet management" disposals:
[ http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/list.asp?s=482 ]

As I've just taken delivery of a 2005 Chevrolet Suburban :)


BFN,

Chevrolet Suburban - That's one ugly brute of a vehicle! Perhaps it's better than it looks.

:)

It does drive very well, Patrick.  And gets quite a few gawps from bystanders as we pass.  If don't you want to look like you're in the F.B.I, or a drug dealer, don't buy a black Suburban...!

And I took your advice, and went for the more environmentally-friendly 5.3 litre version (not the 6 litre monster I was looking at originally).


So, with the fact that there's only me that drives, and I already have an Impreza [as discussed previously], the Day Van has got to go...

:(

"If don't you want to look..."

That's obviously some side-effect with driving on the left!

Let's try that again:
"If you don't want to look..."

Odd that you'd point to a page that has a title of "Rare/Unusual Cars" and refer to a suburban. Perhaps you should spend some time in the states? In particular anywhere between New York City and Los Angeles, you'll see plenty of those :) They are quite useful though if you do need to haul anything

And maybe they were thinking of adding a Volcanologist TA ?

Nigel,

Personally I'd put the annual Road Tax for cars in excess of 2 litres at £500 per litre. That would sort the men from the boys - and as you know 'It's only the cost of the toys that sorts the men from the boys.'

I bet you don't even get 10mpg on that wagon.

Patrick

mpg?

Shouldn't you Brits be using kilometers per liter or something?

:)

Patrick

We measure road distance in miles, but buy petrol in litres - who's for Miles per Litre?
Thank goodnes the beer still comes in pints!
The weather forecasts give temperatures in centigrade, but everyone uses farenheit in conversation.
And my Dutch wife can't understand why we don't have a pound set at half a kilo like her sensible countrymen back home.
What a crazy mixed up bunch we are

matthewspatrick,

We still order pints of beer, and drive miles. My car's computer still reports in miles per gallon, but that's most probably because it's old.

The French adopted the livre as a 'pound' weight bit it's half a kilo - 500g

We also drive on the left - like 40% of the world.

Patrick

Re: Temperature...

We (in the UK) seem to quote the lower end of the scale in Celsius/Centigrade; i.e. "it's going to be 2 degrees tonight".

But the high end of the scale in Fahrenheit; ..."it's 70 in the shade".

You do the math!?!



Matt:
It's "rare" in the UK... well, not *that* rare if you check eBay.

Let's just say it's the only one I've seen on the road in Kent.


PS. Patrick:

I get up to 15 mpg in my 5.8 Litre (or should that be "Liter") Day Van.  But that equates to £85 in the tank; at most 300 miles out of it.  Ouch.


The Suburban should give up to 20mpg-ish.  Although I've only done 40 miles in it so far, so will give it some time for my gas pedal foot to accommodate itself to the new auto' box.


BFN,

fp.

Nigel,
Are you sure you're not American:
"You do the math" and "gas pedal"??

I absolutely sure I'm not American... and not a continent I intend to visit either... given that my ex-wife now lives there!

If you read any of my past comments (or proposed solutions) where there are alternative spellings for the US & the UK, you'll see I provide both (when I remember).

For example, "...colo[u]r..."

I'm just thoughtful that way! :)


I'll outta here to hang with my homies...

BFN,

fp.

Patrick,

> We still order pints of beer

And the great thing about that: your Imperial pint is about 20% larger than our wimpy American pints.  I surely appreciated that during the summer I spent in London back in my college days :)

Patrick

Patrick,

It's good to know that some Imperiatist things are still appreciated...

Patrick

"...can you fit a double vodka in the top of that pint, Barman?"
"Certainly sir"
"Well put some more beer in there then!"


Patrick[M]... beer in the North of England is far stronger than in the South, btw.  Southerners drink shandy compared to the Northerners.  Ask anyone who comes from the North.  (Like me, for instance).

;)

fanpages,

Please provide your evidence on strength of beers increasing with latitude. I used to live in't frorzen noorth and I can't remember stronger beers. Or was I so drunk that it rotted my brain?

Patrick

It's nice that all the beer pumps are now  labelled with %abv - it saves anyone having to drink themselves silly just to prove a point!
My big disappointment on migrating from the North (Sheffield) to the south coast, was the relative flatness of the beer in the lower lattitudes. But that was a long time ago, and things southern have improved since then (or is it my tastes that have changed?)

Mike

Isn't beer supposed to be flat? :)
(And black)

Only if you live in the USA.

"Budweiser... queen of beers"

Shandy makes you randy
Beer makes you qu...

No wait, that's the other way around...

Or not.

Evidence Patrick:
[ http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=southern+shandy+drinking+ponce ]

Or just 'Google' for "SOUTHERN SHANDY DRINKING"

:)

Apparently my comment "queen of beers" may have been misunderstood.

I apologise if anybody took that to mean that their own lifestyle choices were being ridiculed.

I just meant that Budweiser is so weak in terms of alcohol that in the UK it is considered to be a girl's drink.


Any further comments of this nature should be in the Lounge.

BFN,

fp.

Thoughts please...

I know I'm not brilliant but the points accumulation system currently running in EE appears to be close to bloody useless. Over the past week or so I have been awarded I'd guess 20,000 points (yeah I know feeble stuff by comparison to some) and yet my total in the Excel TA area has stayed constant at approx 1,124,294. What's happening? Has anyone else come to the conclusion that they are just not being awarded the points in the overall total. My monthly total increments but not the running total.

Patrick

Patrick,
For March, I see 43,032 points for you in Excel. Of this, over 30,000 points were earned from March 15 through today.

Zone totals are supposed to go up by the full value of the question in each Zone a question is cross-posted, but your overall point totals only count the points once.

Brad

Patrick,

Apparently, the "Top Expert" totals are only updated weekly, as opposed to twice daily in the previous incarnation.

Wayne

Brad/Wayne,

It's the 'Top Experts' list that was/is irritating me. But if you're right Wayne, it'll come good in due course. I shall wait and see.

Thanks for your responses.

Patrick

To whom it concern...

I'm finding EE slow to load new pages - not all the time but most of the time. Is this a local problem to me or are other people experiencing the same delays?

To whom it may concern...

I'm finding EE slow to load new pages - not all the time but most of the time. Is this a local problem to me or are other people experiencing the same delays? Sometimes as much as 10 seconds to finish loading a new page. I'm on 8Gb broadband.

Patrick

8Gb broadband? I wished I had it. Only using 8MB still not all the time complaints.

Jeroen - My typo, should have been 8Mb - Patrcik

Hmmm, I was already packing to move to that country where they offer 8GB download.
Thanks for pointing out that it was a typo.

Yeah... thanks "Patricik" ;)

I'm more than 6 miles away from my nearest BT exchange, so still have to use a broadband speed from the last millennium.


It *only* took 45 minutes to download the upgrade from version 1.50 to 1.60 of my PS3 firmware yesterday.

<sheesh>


Which service provider are you with, btw?  Perhaps they can offer me a faster connection...


BFN,

fp.

FYI:
"The Best Tool for Embedding Spreadsheet Data in Webpages"
[ http://labnol.blogspot.com/2007/03/best-tool-for-embedding-spreadsheet.html ]

"...Final Thoughts: We liked the different custom options offered by EditGrid and also that visitors can export spreadsheet data into multiple formats without leaving your web page.

Google Spreadsheets are plain HTML formatted text but they can be very useful in situations when the underlying data is changing quickly (like stock quotes or currency rates).

Zoho allows visitors to interact with the spreadsheet and save the changed data locally, a feature missing in all other online sheets."

BFN,

fp.

PS. Matt: Last Thursday three cars behind mine in a traffic queue on the way into London each had a go at shortening my Impreza :(

I now have a Lexus IS220 Turbo Diesel hire car [yuk] whilst the Subaru gets fixed.

:( Sorry to hear that, hopefully it'll recover nicely

For you UK'ers:
http://www.dailydoseofexcel.com/archives/2007/03/27/inaugural-uk-office-user-group-event/
From Nick Hodge (MVP): "Dick has kindly given me permission to post on the DDoE about an upcoming event in the UK focussing on Office 2007.

It will take place at Microsoft’s Campus, Thames Valley Park, Reading, Berkshire, on Friday 27th April 2007 and is COMPLETELY FREE!

I will be one of the speakers, discussing the customisation of the new Office UI using RibbonX and VBA, but there will be some BI discussions, as well as presentations of other Office products, including Visio. (I call all these add-ins to Excel, but keep it quiet).

If you are interested, to help us with catering, please book you place with rich <AT> gordonassociates.co.uk. Or, if you wish to look at the detail for the day, go to www.officeusergroup.co.uk"

Oops: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070327/ap_en_ot/people_eddie_griffin

Im still wondering why people keep asking how to share workbooks with multiple users at the same time.

Aint it time to have a new zone related to excel: How to make sure my workbook gets corrupted?

:-)

Jeroen, you're sound more like a Yank every day!

Did anyone else get an email from wewonk or whatever?

I saw your post and noticed that you only took the time to slightly point that it certainly would lead to corruption. Was there a time we discourage strongly to use the sharing function is there now a shift towards a situation like: If your looking for pain, then you perhaps like it so who am I to prevent that situation to happen.

I can imagine that there will be a time we post the comment:
Tools->Share Workbook and set the desired settings.
Enjoy the pain.

Hi Matt,
No, is wewonk offering money, free holliday or a better job?

--------- Original Message --------
From: WeWonk Beta Team <email@address.com>
To: email.address@in-my-profile.com <not.the.one@i-get-notifs-on.com>
Subject: Join the team!
Date: 27/03/07 14:42

We noticed that you are very active on Experts Exchange and have helped a
lot of people so far. We would like to invite you to join our community and
be a part of our original beta group. We¹re interested in hearing more about
your experience and hoping that you¹d like to have an influential role as
one of our first members.

Check out www.website.com and sign up. After that we¹ll be in contact with
you and let you know how to get started.

WeWonk is a technical support organization where our motto is: Work wherever
you want, when you want, with what you want (and get paid for it).

We plan on taking care of our original group so hopefully you will come join
us.



Best Regards,
The WeWonk Beta Team

Keep me informed if you started to become a millionair based on given support.
Supporting their motto: you honk, we wonk :)

Patrick AB is the most vocal on this subject and tends to make just the process of asking a question about sharing about as painful as the act itself. I tend to be a little more subtle with "You can share the workbook but the general consensus around here is this almost always leads to a corrupted workbook." My preference is to treat people as adults until proven otherwise.

WeWonk: looks like a rent-a-coder site with class. My guess is it will be the same basic process: you bid on jobs and the lowest bid gets the work. Great for young kids in extremely low cost of living locations, not so great for others.

Then again, WTF are we doing here working for points?!?!?

Good point, probably why i made $5 earlier on rentacoder for supplying someone with one line of outlook vba code (well, $2 after RAC takes $3).
Looking through google i could see a list of names of the people that appear to be responsible for it (through a cached version of their blog, listed under Blogroll), didnt recognize any name except Michel (mplungan has the same first name, though doesnt appear to be the same person). Kinda expected to see cd& or someone in there, I assumed this was just a newer version of their ERT site they made a couple years back, but I dont recognize any names in their minutes or anything.

I tried searching EE for wewonk and came up with only this thread. good to see the new search works well, I hadn't really tried looking for anything recent until now.

The first advice to WeWonk would be to remove the picture of the geek from the home page & replace it with somebody who looks like he knows one end of a razor from another [...and I don't mean his Motorola handset]!

I tried ExpertBee.com for a while... but it's a[nother] site based on feedback & after answering one question & gaining 100% feedback, I was shafted by a question asker who couldn't be bothered to reply to my statement "Please write back if you need anything explaining or do not understand" & gave me poor feedback without any follow-up message.

Also, every time I find a question that isn't asking me to do somebody's complete 6 years of course work for 5 dollars, somebody in another time zone has beaten me to it.


I've been a member of RentACoder for years, and never found anything that warranted me getting remotely interested.  There are too many disclaimers & legal terms to make it worthwhile.

For those of us (like myself) in the UK, you may also like to view [ http://Freelancers.net ].

BFN,

fp.

FYI:
Another question asker to strike-off my Christmas card list...

[ http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Visual_Basic/Q_22467603.html ]


Perhaps Kevin with his new-found Visual Basic contributions can help out?

You may be more tactful, perhaps!?!

:)

BFN,

fp.

Mr AB...

Re: [ http://www.experts-exchange.com/Programming/Languages/Visual_Basic/Q_22467603.html?cid=238#a18845952 ]

Thank you.

It is exactly this kind of person who has kept me away from Experts-Exchange to the same degree that I was here last year.

The law of diminishing returns is proving too much for me to be bothered with devoting what little time I now have available on people like this.

But I do appreciate your comment.

BFN,

fp.

Matt congrats on the $2 profit from RAC :)

First paid Excel job?

Heh, thanks :) $1.64 after paypal took their piece! I don't think I even got a rating there from it either. Still not bad for what could be a 50 point question here (all he needed was: myInspector.HideFormPage "Details")
Actually my second job, Ken paypal'ed me $50 last year for helping him with some vbscript for a client of his (which a couple weeks later I donated to a family he is friends with that fell on hard times, lost their son I think)

wow 1.64. Better declare that on your tax return

You can always pick up part 2 of my tennis code if you like. I've lost interest (and time) in the second portion even though I'm about 90% finished post part 1. The buyer was prepared to pay US$80 for part 2, hapy to pass on your details if you are keen.

I remember the death of the son of Kens friend. I also made a small contribution from my paypal account from my previous RAC job, it was a stomach churning story, especially now that I have kids of my own.

I don't know about all of you guys, but I love Newegg.com.  I just received this today and thought I'd share.

Dear Subscribers,

Newegg.com is proud to announce the beta launch of EggXpert.com, an online tech community designed specifically for tech and consumer electronic enthusiasts like yourself.
Whether you're a novice or expert looking for the perfect place to share your knowledge or a casual reader searching for tech advice, EggXpert.com will be the website for you! With forums, blogs, and frequent interactive events, community members will easily be able to participate in discussions and network with other EggXpert members. Additionally, EggXpert.com's forums and blogs will be entirely user based, thus our site's richness will continually grow as we increase membership.

Want to start your own blog? Browse the hottest deals? Enter tech themed contests? EggXpert.com will be the place to take advantage of all that and discover special opportunities you won't find anywhere else.

The first 20,000 members who sign up within the next 90 days will be given a special insignia or mark, which would denote them as a "founding member" of EggXpert.com for their support.

Join our growing community today and make EggXpert.com your place to meet and interact with tech fans from all across the Internet!
 
Sincerely,
The EggXpert.com Team

Was that sent 9 days ago, and only just reached your inbox?

For those of you who remember him, Malcolm (mdmackillop) was just given MVP status (MSMVP - Microsoft Office System):
https://mvp.support.microsoft.com/profile=DEFF9C45-8040-482D-9CFE-6FD5665F033B

I know I'm a bit late to the party about it (might have missed a congrats thread too?), but after I finally gave Colo a picture of myself taken with my cell phone, I noticed that Kevin was awarded the Cell Master title :) Congrats!!

http://www.puremis.net/excel/cellmasters.shtml

Kevin,

In case I forgot to do it before, congratulations on being named a Cell Master!

Patrick

Happy birthday Matt!

I hope this year's celebration goes better than your last one.

Brad

Did you already know about the newer levels beyond Genius?
I just noticed there are other ranks defined:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/ranksDefined.jsp

So other targets are set, Im curious who will be able to earn 100 million point to become a legend.
To me, persons like you guys are already legends!

Jeroen

> So other targets are set, Im curious who will be able to earn 100 million
> point to become a legend.

Sembee should get to it in 2009 or so :)

>congratulations on being named a Cell Master!
Thanks. Not sure what it means yet but it was fun expounding on my life. Y'all know how I like to talk about myself.

>Newegg.com
Yes, very nice place that.

>EggXpert.com
Don't waste your time. It's just a bunch of free-for-all forums with little organization.

Happy birthday Matt! When are you heading out on your next road trip? Bringing the kitties?

Kevin

2009 would be even to soon since you get a rank based on zone values and not the total of it. Perhaps they threw some multiplier into it when you have more certificates on other zones it is multiplied with it.

Or some kind of new higher math is born on EE. With some kind of EE-function.

Im curious how that would look like in excel. Perhaps something like:
=IF(CertInZones<3,ZonePoints^NumbersCerts,ABS(NumberTopZonePoints*NumberLowestZonePoints/NumberOfZonesParticipated))

Congratulations Matt,
Like the Dire Straits could sing: Points are not for nothing and beer for free!

Points for noth'n and the chicks...are nowhere in site and probably never will be 'cause we are all a bunch of nerdy pocket protector slide rule dudes with no lives or we wouldn't be here day after day after day...

"=IF(CertInZones<3,ZonePoints^NumbersCerts,ABS(NumberTopZonePoints*NumberLowestZonePoints/NumberOfZonesParticipated))"

I rest my case.

PatrickAB - and don't you start on about getting a life...you're the one who posts the Q looking for an Excel Christmas card each year! How nerdy is that!

:-)

Anyone still think sandramac is a girl?

Seems we live forever since we will be here day after day after day... so at least we will be here 2 more days starting tomorrow and then again....:)

When we starting getting old and grumpy having our will defined there would be some note in it that our breed will inherit everything when they obtain at least a genius level :)

Initial I would think so, only working now with several people from India, learned that the name doesn't say much about the gender :)

Yes, good idea. I hereby bequeath all my worthless points to the Excel guys charity fund. Light me, watch me burn, scatter my ashes over Bill's house, and then take the points/poinks/certs/whatever to the nearest tavern and get blitzed - but bring some cash just in case they don't take points.

Emily gets the t-shirt.

RE sandramac...I'll see what some of you other dogs say and then I'll reveal the truth. Brad can't respond since he knows. He knows everything.

Thanks all for the well wishes, and thanks Brad for remembering.  I did not wake up in the hospital this morning so it seems to be much better.  In fact I finished my latest round of antibiotics this morning; my 4th antibiotic script in the last 7 weeks for a monster sinus infection. All is good now, at least it seems so again
As for my next road trip, the date is still up in the air (truly) but when I get a better idea I'll be asking Brad and Jaes about their schedules, as they're along my tentative route. I've got a cousin moving to Nashville in the next couple months and visiting her basically sealed the deal as to where I'd like to go next.

Re: aleSANDR A. MACinski, I have no idea :) I did always assume female, havent dealt with them in a while though so I may have missed something

t-shirt? t-shirt? what t-shirt?

I don't believe ths t-shirt exists.

But, we nerds don't need it anyway; we're just sitting in front of our computers if we're not sleeping (which we very seldom do anyway). We don't need proper clothings for that.

Yes, I seem to get more points in the nude...I run cooler that way. Bugs my wife though.

Uh huh.

Matt,
I wondered what the suddern inbox overload signified
Thank for the update - Great news re Malcolm
Dave

Hi Guys,

Has anyone of you benn running across similar problems; and if yes, solved the how?
I'm really grateful for PatrickAB's ans p912s's help, but our combined efforts didn't get me much further (this is my own question) I would hate to havte to rebuild the complete workbook again, without knowing if it will solve the problem at all

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Software/Office_Productivity/Office_Suites/MS_Office/Excel/Q_22498577.html

Cheers
Xanius

First time I've received one of these e-mails:

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Subject:       EE Premium Services Account Suspension
Date:       Tue, 1 May 2007 10:30:10 -0700 (PDT)
From:       Experts Exchange <noreply@experts-exchange.com>
To:       fanpages



Experts Exchange <http://www.experts-exchange.com>       05.01.2007 - 10:25AM
PDT

*Suspended Account Notice*
*Dear fanpages,*
Your Experts Exchange Premium Services account has been suspended. To
get your account back in good working order, please visit:
https://secure.experts-exchange.com/editPremiumServices.jsp
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That'll teach me to have a life!

BFN,

fp.

Nigel:

I received one of those a few months ago.  I had to get 10k points to get my ability to search the EE KB again.  It didn't take long, but I agree...  sometimes we need to have a life.  In my case it was work related.  I didn't like not having access because it happened when I needed it most.

On a different note...  

EEEs:

The problem:
We have part of the associates on Office 2003 and part on Office 2007.  The user had a 2007 .xlsx spreadsheet with links to 2003 .xls spreadsheets.  Everything was calculating, but he was receiving the message box, "A formula in this worksheet contains one or more invalid references.  Verify that your formulas contain a valid path, workbook, range name, and cell reference."

The solution:
He updated all the 2003 .xls spreadsheets to 2007 .xlsx spreadsheets and the error went away.

Just wanted to share with you guys since I know many may not t have access to Excel 2007 or like me care to upgrade.  I tried Beta 2 and yeah it's cool, but I found it a hassle.

Jaes

Thanks Jaes.

I only ever search the PAQs when I'm looking for past questions I've posted for others & need to re-quote my provided solution for a new question.

Using Google is often just as effectiive anyway!

Since the site revamp I've not being overly bothered with visiting so I have let my (free) membership lapse.  You're right, though, 10,000 points will not take too long.

I'm still waiting for delivery of the T-Shirt NetMinder mentioned as long ago as 30 October last year as a "token of congratulations and appreciation for your accomplishments during the past year".

---

As for Excel/Office 2007; I have it (as part of my Microsoft Action Pack Subscription), but can't see a need to install it [just like Windows Vista... again, I have it, but don't see the need to use it as I'm happy with what I have already).

BFN,

fp.

New congratulations thread, this time for double Genius  rorya http:/Q_22549458.html

Have you guys seen this?  Excel 2003 to Excel 2007 Flash Demo.  Hopefully the link will work.

http://tc4.iponet.net/assistance/asstvid.aspx?assetid=XT101493291033&vwidth=1044&vheight=788&type=flash&CTT=11&Origin=HA101491511033

Pretty cool to help figure out where things are on the ribbon.

Does anyone have the spirits and wits to turn more sanity into this discussion?

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Database/Reporting_/Q_22508445.html

PatrickAB and I definitely did our best, but apparently all in vain. I've never before run across a co-experts fighting so furiously for a wrong solution.

Xanius

For those that don't get a chance to read the EE Community Newsletter, May 9, 2007.

The Best of EE

zorvek, this year's "leader" in the points standings in the Excel zone, was on a tear May 1. First, he answered a question regarding appending data (http:/Q_22545790.html) about two minutes after it was asked, prompting a response of "That was amazing. Thanks!" Then, he took his time, using about eight minutes to answer another question regarding using Excel charts in a Word document (http:/Q_22545893.html). Nice work, zorvek!

Congratulations Kevin!

Very nice, Kevin :)

Unrelated, if anyone cares to try their hand at a VBS question recursing network subdirectories to get the newest, I'm all out of ideas.   My summary/pointer question: http:Q_22564109.html     Original question: http:Q_22559707.html

Matt,

Did you ever look at my code to recursively dump file data , http://vbaexpress.com/kb/getarticle.php?kb_id=405 This may be of use

Cheers

Dave

Guys:

I realize everyone is busy, but how did we manage to get 563 open questions in our TA?  Brad, do we need to help out cleaning out the old questions?

Jaes

Hello Jaes,
Just to repsond to your comment: currently Im still involved in the clean up process, though the questions I receive are strictly for the excel zone. You can imagine that a lot of questions are posted in different zones and therefor not under my control.

Although Im busy I search the time to clean up things within the limits which is maximum of once in the 2 weeks. During this closing session there are approximate 110 questions which can be closed.

Perhaps I spoiled you all :)   In the old times having the open questions under the 200. nowadays 250-450 will be the range. keep in mind that I have a request for closure open since the 8th with appr. 100 Q's

I wish I could minimize the open Q's still that is not under my control since I think my judgement stricks to the excel zone and not other zones. As in most of the times I want to take the time to try out sollutions you all posted.

I hope this takes a part of your concerns away.

If you think it is getting out of control let me know. Still, in my opinion spending about 3-4 hours on a saterday morning to clean up as best I can do (all open questions strictly related to the excel topic of started as main topic excel are delt with)

Jeroen

Jeroen:

Ahhh, I feel much better.  I thought that was just for the Excel Zone.  No worries mate!  Thanks for the prompt response!

Kindest Regards,

Jaes