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Domain: onmsft.com

Stories and comments across the archive that link to onmsft.com.

Comments · 6

  1. Automatic conversions by manu0601 · · Score: 1 · on Microsoft Excel Can Now Turn Pictures of Tables Into Actual, Editable Tables (thurrott.com)

    Will it interpret units and wreck the data as usual?

  2. the problem with excel by e**(i+pi)-1 · · Score: 1 · on The First Rule of Microsoft Excel -- Don't Tell Anyone You're Good at It (wsj.com)

    the problem of excel is that data and code are mixed. This makes it extremely difficult to audit and verify. One knows that there are many errors in spreadsheets just because of that. This is long documented and has appeared in slashdot discussions since at least a decade. Some good comments from that time (how I miss the user base of slashdot from 14 years ago!) https://slashdot.org/comments.... https://tech.slashdot.org/stor... I have seen such errors myself. The advantage of having the data separate is that one can run the data analysis with different programming languages. This allows to proofread the data base and proofread the code (run the code on different data for example first). This is especially important if the spreadsheet has been written by somebody else. In that case, the best advise is indeed to run away (as it is almost impossible to figure out what nonsense has been programmed into it). If an audit needs to be done, it is best to extract the data and write a program using a decent programming language, better with two. Here are just some data: https://www.theregister.co.uk/... : 20 percent of corporate spreadsheets have material errors. More recent: https://www.onmsft.com/news/20...

  3. Re:Restricted Boot refuses to even load GRUB by Obfuscant · · Score: 1 · on Microsoft Targets Google and Apple in Schools With 'Surface Plus' Hardware Subscription Program (geekwire.com)

    "Restricted Boot" is a term used by the Free Software Foundation to refer to UEFI Secure Boot

    Thank you for the lecture on what UEFI secure boot is.

    The terms under which Microsoft licensed Windows RT to OEMs required devices to use Restricted Boot.

    This is a Surface Pro. Just a few seconds on Google finds simple instructions for disabling secure boot, with explicit reference to running Ubuntu or even MacOS. Can you cite anything that shows that Microsoft as the OEM is now disabling the ability to disable secure boot on their hardware?

    Admittedly, the link I just gave is a few years old. Here's one that is much more recent. Here's one from MS itself talking about Surface Pro 4 and disabling secure boot.

  4. Re:It's the pointing device ... by Njovich · · Score: 1 · on Get Real, Microsoft: If the New Surface Pro Is a Laptop, Bundle It With a Type Cover (pcworld.com)

    I had the exact same issue, but there is actually a virtual touchpad included in the latest version of Windows 10:
    https://www.onmsft.com/news/ho...
    I think Microsoft originally intended you use the pen as a mouse, but I'm not a fan of that either.

  5. Re:It's gone from one to two? by sglewis100 · · Score: 1 · on Microsoft Says More People Are Switching From Macs To Surface Than Ever Before (theverge.com)

    Considered revenue from Surface was over a billionin the second quarter of 2016, I suspect it's a fairly high number of sales. Some of the commenters suggested it went from 1 to 2. That would be a pretty expensive Surface, at a retail price of about a billion bucks.

  6. Re:And the shareholders accepted that line of bull by The-Ixian · · Score: 2 · on Wielding Their Windows Phones, Microsoft Shareholders Grill CEO Satya Nadella On Device Strategy (geekwire.com)

    As an investor, I am sure you learn to read between the lines.

    What is probably meant by "What we are going to do is focus that effort on places where we have differentiation" is that MS will work with their big clients to customize their mobile offerings to meet their needs.

    Example: https://www.onmsft.com/news/35...

    Also, their push toward UWP apps and continuum is a longer term strategy of convergence. Eventually, phones will take over from PCs.... not for at least a few years, but when they do, MS will have been unifying their platforms all that time so will be poised to take advantage.