[Informatics] Adventures in Libre Office

[Mark]

Hi James

If I needed a guard animal, I'd get a dog. I would not train a gerbil to
attack intruders.

Similarly, if I need to create Gantt charts, I'd use a dedicated Gantt
chart tool, and not expect a spreadsheet to do a job for which it is
completely inappropriate.

- Does an Excel 2016 Gantt do proper dependency arrows? I can't find that.*
- Does Excel handle milestones automatically when a task's duration is set
to zero?
- Importantly, if a task is moved or changed, do other tasks automatically
change to accommodate the adjustment - or do you have to manually drag all
affected tasks around to reflect the change? The SAC requires chart
adjustments to be demonstrated, and manual adjustment of all consequential
task changes is a real buzz-kill.
- Can you allocate resources to a task? Will it warn that resources are
double-booked? (Not that this is required for Informatics, but it's a very
handy feature)
- Is it *free*?

Far better, dedicated, no-cost Gantt software is easily available.
Why spend weeks training a gerbil to bark and assault strangers?

And yes, I agree that Google apps have much to commend them, but they also
lack the features of dedicated tools.

And do Google docs work offline? I remember once sitting in the waiting
room of a gerbil training academy that had no wifi, and *could not produce
a Gantt chart online*. It was *very* distressing.

Mark

* It may explain why - before the 2016 Info exam - VCAA exams' Gantt
questions have *no* dependency arrows or milestone diamonds. I can imagine
the old exam-setting group at work:

A: We need to depict a Gantt chart in this IPM exam !
B: Great! Let's show a Gantt chart that lacks *all* of the most vital
features of a real Gantt chart, like the arrows and diamonds!
A: Fantastic! Let's do that thing. But wait! Do you think it might confuse
students who have learned what a real Gantt chart looks like?
B: Ha Ha Ha. Yes indeed. But if we downloaded and used *real* Gantt chart
software tool - that would be really - um - free and quick and easy ... But
you know Microsoft's slogan: *"What the hell. Let's use Excel!"*
A: But isn't that like training a gerbil to be an attack animal?
B: Golly. You must be psychic. That analogy won't be raised until March
2017.
A: Jeepers. That's spooky!



On 22 March 2017 at 14:37, Vella, James <jvella at mackillop.vic.edu.au> wrote:

> And I’m guessing the latest version of Libre Calc doesn’t allow you to
> make Gantt charts like Excel 2016 does!
>
>
>
> If you’re looking for a free productivity suite (with plenty of resources
> to boot), Google might be the better answer.
>
>
>
> JV
>
>
>

-- 

Mark Kelly

mark at vceit.com
http://vceit.com

Powered by *angry gerbils.*
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