Microsoft Fixes Excel Feature That Forced Scientists to Rename Human Genes::Microsoft now allows users to disable automatic date conversion, which means scientists no longer have to worry about using alternative names for genes.

    • NoSpiritAnimal@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I have a spreadsheet that has been going for 20 years, across 2 companies, and hundreds of people.

      Thousands and thousands of lines, going back like an ice core sample. Zooming out is wild.

      “What’s this layer?”

      “Oh that’s when Terry worked here”

    • SatyrSack@lemmy.one
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      1 year ago

      Nowhere here is it implied that they were using it instead of a database. They could run into this issue whether or not they were properly using Excel for what it is for.

          • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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            1 year ago

            Read the article. IMHO scientists were having problems because they were using it for a task it is ill suited for. The kind of program that is designed for storing large amounts of data and preventing accidental corruption of it is a database.

            • MrScottyTay@sh.itjust.works
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              1 year ago

              I think scientists would use Excel more for finding out information with their data, not for storing it. You know like looking for trends and plotting graphs and whatnot.

              • lolcatnip@reddthat.com
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                1 year ago

                I think they use it for both. They end up using it as a database because they’re familiar with it from doing data analysis. I’ve also heard of much more egregious examples, like a school using a giant Excel spreadsheet to track the applications of potential students. Need to track up to three references for each student? Make three of each column related to a reference! It’s a really gross way of storing denormalized data without any of the ACID properties databases guarantee.

    • prole@sh.itjust.works
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      1 year ago

      I read this meme several times trying to figure out what is supposed to be funny about it… Then I realized it’s from Friends and based on a “joke” from that show. No wonder it wasn’t funny.

      Edit: mmm yes, your downvotes only strengthen my resolve. Friends is shit and has always been shit. So unbelievably unfunny.