Anything You want to know ‘truth’ OzGrid please ask. I was Admin remember, until I was kicked out for matter nothing to do with me

jiuk

I would have thought so, in which case, his recommendations, which you say are heavily weighed in our favour, is proportional to the others.

Imagine that you had bought a suite of addins from someone and were then asked to recommend a utility to solve a particular problem. The temptation is to recommend what you know, rather than what’s best for the recipient.

Curt is obviously a fan of your site and your addins and that appears to be the first place he went to look for solutions. If he found a potential solution there, he recommended it, rather than widening his search to identify better/cheaper/free alternatives.

It is, of course, possible that it’s just a coincidence and that Curt did an exhaustive search of the internet for a free answer to each annoyance before concluding that the only solution is to buy one of your (or the other sources he recommends) addins.

Regards

Stephen Bullen

Can I ask why you feel the need to single out ozgrid when Curtis has stated he also suggests add-ins from many other sources?

Seems to me that your point could be made without making mention of any company or person.

Thanks for the information. It’s always going to be an impossible task to organise the topics both functionaly and according to difficulty/complexity.

Is the ‘whiny’ tone of many of the annoyances a considered feature of the Annoyances series? I can see how it would put some people off (like myself and Jon), but how other readers might relate to it. That’s primarily what lead to my ‘love it or hate it’ summary, and I guess would depend on the reader’s attitude to Excel itself.

Let us know if you need any help locating free/shareware solutions from a wider range of sources for the next edition.

Regards

Stephen Bullen

As editor of the “Excel Annoyances” tome and editor in charge of the Annoyances series, lemme add my 2 drachmas worth.

First, yep, as Curt says, we got no kickbacks. We simply picked the best utilities to solve the problem.

Second, utilities as part of a “fix” is indeed part of the plan. The solution hierarchy is pretty much: is there a workaround that solves the problem? (Or at least, solves enough of it?) If not, is there a patch or update of some sort? If not…is there free or shareware utility that will do the job? And yes, finally, is their a commercial tool that nips the problem in the bud? Not every fix follows this scheme exactly, but that was the aim. And as you know, some users definitely don’t want to roll up their sleeves with a long involved series of steps…$30 for a utility that solves the problem is well worth it to many. So…it’s a mix.

Third, them Annoyances weren’t contrived. They came from the experiences we culled from many many people, from Excel mavens to newbies. In fact, the majority of these Annoyances (and some fixes) came from user groups that we queried. And the range of problems and user levels spanned the continuum…from newbies who’ve been using Excel for 3 months, to NASA engineers who can change the baby with the thing. That’s why you see annoyances that are pretty simple…and those that are pretty complex or arcane. We tried to order the Annoyances in a simple–>complex order, but…well, we’ll be more attentive to this next time around.

Likewise, we’ll continue to ponder your critique and the reviews (both pro and con) of others, to make this and future Annoyances books better, more relevant, and more useful. That’s our pledge!

–Robert Luhn, Executive Editor

Thanks for clearing that up for us. I’m sorry to have caused any offence.

Regards

Stephen Bullen

Those that know me, and the thousands that I have freely helped (and continue to both *privately* and publicly) know also that the other planting of ‘seeds of doubt’ about me or my business are also totally untrue on all accounts. Anyone that believes I have ever exploited anyone in anyway, shape of form is so far from the truth and likely has a hidden agenda.

As the author of Excel Annoyances, I want to state emphatically that I receive no kickbacks from OzGrid. If you look through the book carefully, you’ll see that I also recommend software from ASAP Utilities, Mark Robinson, John Walkenbach, DJI Computer Solutions, ExcelTemplates.com, CrystalGraphics.com, and so on, sometimes in competition to the OzGrid solution.

Sorry to have stirred the hornets nest.

Curt