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If you are using Excel 2007 at office or at home, you might be surprised to know that while it can do complex calculations accurately, Excel 2007 has trouble doing simple multiplication.

While it is hard to believe, Excel makes mistakes multiplying 77.1 by 850, 10.2 by 6,425 and 20.4 by 3,212.5. Basically Excel 2007 has problems with certain calculations where the result is 65,535 or 65,536. The problem was first identified with 65,535 but later tests showed a similar phenomenon with 65,536 as well.

Microsoft employee David Gainer says that Excel was actually performing the calculations correctly, but when it comes time to show the answer on the screen, it messes up. Gainer said the bug is limited to six numbers from 65,534.99999999995 to 65,535, and six numbers from 65,535.99999999995 to 65,536.

The number 65,536 is 2 multiplied by itself 16 times, and a common delimiter in programming, which relies on binary numbers. The “problem” decimals 65,534.99999999995 and 65,535.99999999995 each have 16 characters, and Excel may be having trouble interpreting values between those and the next round number.

Hotfixes

Microsoft has already announced a Excel 2007 hotfix package for the issue. You can download it here. You may also want to read the KB article on this here.

Microsoft is in the process of adding this fix to Microsoft Update so that it will get automatically pushed to users running Excel 2007. Additionally, the fix will also be contained in the first service pack of Office 2007.

I came across this search page inside the Google website that was specifically designed to search Microsoft-related sites.

Just check out http://www.google.com/microsoft.html

This page seems to be in existence as early as 2002. It is quite surprising to find a search page solely devoted to searching stuff related to a particular company. But if you consider the enormous amount of information available in Microsoft sites, the exclusive search page is probably justified.

Actually, the results shown are not limited to Microsoft website. It fetches pages from other sites also as long as the content is related to Microsoft. So the results are not the same as you would get using site:microsoft.com parameter in a search.

Picture a surface that can recognize physical objects from a paintbrush to a cell phone and allows hands-on, direct control of content such as photos, music and maps.

Recently, Microsoft Corp. CEO Steve Ballmer unveiled Microsoft Surface at the Wall Street Journal’s  All Things Digital conference.

Microsoft Surface is the first in a new category of surface computing products from Microsoft that breaks down traditional barriers between people and technology.

Surface turns an ordinary tabletop into a vibrant, dynamic surface that provides effortless interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects.

The intuitive user interface works without a traditional mouse or keyboard, allowing people to interact with content and information on their own or collaboratively with their friends and families, just like in the real world. Surface is a 30-inch display in a table-like form factor that small groups can use at the same time. From digital finger painting to a virtual concierge, Surface brings natural interaction to the digital world in a new and exciting way.

Imagine ordering a beverage during a meal with just the tap of a finger. Imagine quickly browsing through music and dragging favorite songs onto a personal playlist by moving a finger across the screen. Imagine creating and sending a personal postcard of vacation pictures instantly to friends and family, while still wearing flip-flops.

Surface computing, which Microsoft has been working on for a number of years, features four key attributes:

• Direct interaction. Users can actually grab digital information with their hands, interacting with content by touch and gesture, without the use of a mouse or keyboard.
• Multi-touch. Surface computing recognizes many points of contact simultaneously, not just from one finger like a typical touch-screen, but up to dozens of items at once.
• Multi-user. The horizontal form factor makes it easy for several people to gather around surface computers together, providing a collaborative, face-to-face computing experience.
• Object recognition. Users can place physical objects on the surface to trigger different types of digital responses, including the transfer of digital content.