Now if only I could find custom error bars in MATLAB.

If only the Windows side of things were as responsive.

If only we could have customizable (truly customizable) ribbons in Office 2007 for Windows (the quick access bar is a joke, and too small, and too icony).

Oh, and maybe Visual Basic could be sped up to 1950 computer speeds, that would be helpful too. As it stands now, macros and VB-based add-ins take eons to run. You have no choice to but use Office 2003 for these things.

No one should upgrade to Office 2007 unless you're a wordprocessing newbie (for whom the interface changes will be a help). If you customize your toolbars and use macros or VB-based add-ins, you will stare blankly at Office 2007 wondering what on earth you just wasted $300 for.

"Custom! Error! Bars!" Nerd!

Also announced: VBA will return to Office for Mac. (But we have to wait for the next full version.)

That person deserves brownie points.
That's some excellent customer service!

I wonder if they fixed Application.FileSearch in their VBA macros. This was broken in Office 2007. Curiously, Microsoft's on-line help shows Application.FileSearch as a valid command. But it isn't. Fuckers!

Sincerely, joy for custom error bars! And this guy's clearly doing a great job in personalized customer service.

However, I really can't stand the new 'friendly business' use of the term "reach out." As in, "We should reach out to that business and maybe we can make a deal." "Why don't you reach out to the media on this?" "I just wanted to reach out to you, blah blah blah."

I'm hearing this everywhere. Is there some business newsletter I don't receive spreading this godawful, saccharine, psychobabble of a phrase around town? "Reach out" sounds like evangelical church-talk to me, and it sounds like bullshit. What's wrong with "I read your post and here's an update: now we have custom error bars!"

"I thought I would extend a hand in friendship and love to you today, my dear friend, and offer companionship during our shared pursuit of health and happiness. This morning, I love you in the form of custom error bars."

(Why yes, I AM cynical and overly sensitive this morning! Sorry for ranting, Slog folks, and Microsoft guy, it's not your fault. This phrase is EVERYWHERE.)

@7 - "Reach out" is stolen from The Sopranos.

Whoever uses the term in the real world is trying to invoke the image of someone trying to be diplomatic instead of "whacking" whoever stands in their way. It's a nice way of saying, "I could crush you, but I am choosing not to." Of course, the guy works at Microsoft, so it's easy to see where he gets this mentality.

At least, that's how I read it.

That makes sense, I guess... I'm just annoyed at my young corporate-ladder-climbing friends who all of the sudden are seized with evangelistic fervor when it comes to networking, and this is the buzzword they all parrot at me.

Real scientists use MatLab

Hey Microsoft Mac guy - please tell your friends that work on Powerpoint for Mac that it sucks supreme that you can't drop a folder of images right into Powerpoint slides, yet you can with the Windows version.

I know, I know, I just use Keynote.

Real scientists use whatever tool is the best for the task.

Using Matlab to assemble simple charts is like using a Ford F350 heavy duty pickup truck to buy oregano from PCC. What, do you compose all your e-mails in LaTex? Pick your nose with a power drill?

I love when people invoke "Real ________ [do/don't] ________."  It helps me identify the snobs with no objective leg to stand on.

(The exception is use in a skilled parry, as exemplified by Golob @12.)

Golob@12, Matlab is great for assembling charts if you do a lot of number crunching well suited to Matlab anyway. Can you do an eigendecomposition easily in Excel?

Although, yes, it doesn't seem to have easily customized error bars.