Savvysoft TurboExcel

Reun

Hi. I'm new here.

Looks like we have got some nice Google ads here today. Especially this one caught my attention:

C/C++ Programming
The lazy man's way to program. No debugging No testing.

Promising. Let's see what they have to offer (http://www.turboexcel.com/freetrialnewc2.htm):

Create C programs on the fly with an Excel Spreadsheet. No Coding. No Debugging. No Testing.

Make Excel spreadsheets work inside other systems instantly. TurboExcel automatically turns spreadsheets into C programs that integrate into other systems.

Secure spreadsheets. Protect proprietary spreadsheet algorithms.

Make Excel run up to 300 times faster.

Reun

It almost worked!

dhromed

It's because they're using a Word document as data transporter.

ItsAllGeekToMe

What the hell does that even mean? "TurboExcel automatically turns spreadsheets into C programs..." huh????

A_Wizard_A_True_Star

Okay. Boy, was that one confusing site. But after watching their flash demo (the first five minutes are completely content-free) I think I have an idea what this software does. I think it takes the formulas you've inputted into cells and converts them into a C++ addin. Then you get a custom function that does the same thing as your formula, only faster, and if your formulas are proprietary then no one else can see them. But man, they sure have a lot to learn about getting their message across.

@A Wizard A True Star said:

Okay. Boy, was that one confusing
site. But after watching their flash demo (the first five minutes are
completely content-free) I think I have an idea what this software
does. I think it takes the formulas you've inputted into cells and
converts them into a C++ addin. Then you get a custom function that
does the same thing as your formula, only faster, and if your formulas
are proprietary then no one else can see them. But man, they sure have
a lot to learn about getting their message across.

Given their likely target market, I think "content-free" is a perfect marketing strategy. Engineers are never going to look twice at this stuff anyway.

Irrelevant

Savvysoft - A New Spin on Derivatives Software

TurboExcel completely takes advantage of the fact that

programming code runs much faster than spreadsheet code.

TurboExcel's patent-pending technology actually converts Excel

spreadsheet formulas into C++ programming code, and then

compiles it into binary code (0's and 1's).

my BS-ometer jumped straight to "waders recommended" at the phrase "completely takes advantage". I think it'd hit "man the lifeboats" by the time they'd pointed out that spreadsheet formulas aren't stored as binary. I never knew...

I don't really see why they'd get a patent for it, tho'. It's just a compiler for a functional programming language, with the declerations (variables) all called A1, A2, B1, B2, etcetc. Sadly, they'll probably get one anyway.

(incidentally, does anyone else find that woman (at the top of all the pages)'s grin distinctly disturbing?)

Richard Nixon

@Irrelevant said:

(incidentally, does anyone else find that
woman (at the top of all the pages)'s grin distinctly
disturbing?)

Agreed. It's a strange sort of smirk.

apapadimoulis

Hahaha, that's pretty damn funny. I'd post it on the main site. .. but I'm sure it's against the rules to make fun of your advertisers ...

@Irrelevant said:

(incidentally, does anyone else find that woman (at the top of all the pages)'s grin distinctly disturbing?)

Indeed. It seems that every single consultant's website uses
these kind of pictures...attractive young people, sitting or standing
around computer monitors, all smiling big, toothy smiles. I
wonder what the customers of these consultants think when, instead of
getting a Smiley McHip coming in and making their workplace a social
utopia all the while writing fantastic code, they get a Gruffy
Surlyowski coming in late, smelling of burritos, and making lewd
comments to all he might encounter, all the while writing three lines of
buggy code a day until the contract is up.

Otis_Mukinfus

@Irrelevant said:

http://www.turboexcel.com/over.htm
(incidentally, does anyone else find that woman (at the top of all the pages)'s grin distinctly disturbing?)

If you mean the one on the home page, I would say that her kanine teeth being as pronounced as they are would indicate family lineage originating in Transylvania.

Otis_Mukinfus

@Otis Mukinfus said:

@Irrelevant said:
http://www.turboexcel.com/over.htm
(incidentally, does anyone else find that woman (at the top of all the pages)'s grin distinctly disturbing?)

If you mean the one on the home page, I would say that her kanine teeth being as pronounced as they are would indicate family lineage originating in Transylvania.

I believe that would be "canine"[:S]

Hey guys, do a google search for "Savvysoft TurboExcel" =DDD

Reun

Whoops. I bet they just love me now! :P

ItsAllGeekToMe

@foxyshadis said:

Hey guys, do a google search for "Savvysoft TurboExcel" =DDD

baaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahah........that's awesome.

Mike_R

@foxyshadis said:

Hey guys, do a google search for "Savvysoft TurboExcel" =DDD

Pagerank can be painful. Ouch. [:D]

savvysoft

A Wizard A True Star wrote:

"Boy, was that one confusing site. But after watching their flash demo (the first five minutes are completely content-free) I think I have an idea what this software does. I think it takes the formulas you've inputted into cells and converts them into a C++ addin. Then you get a custom function that does the same thing as your formula, only faster, and if your formulas are proprietary then no one else can see them. But man, they sure have a lot to learn about getting their message across."

Sorry for the confusion. We've spent a lot of time trying to figure out how to describe this thing "on paper" and it's not simple to do. We're happy to learn about getting our message across, and sincerely welcome any ideas you guys have on doing it right.

foxyshadis wrote:

"Given their likely target market, I think "content-free" is a perfect marketing strategy. Engineers are never going to look twice at this stuff anyway."

Maybe one look is enough. Feel free to give it a try to see if it might be promising. We're programmers over here, not marketers (though we have to play one on TV). And we actually use this product ourselves for developing our other products (which is how we came up with the idea in the first place).

Irrelevant wrote:

"my BS-ometer jumped straight to "waders recommended" at the phrase "completely takes advantage". I think it'd hit "man the lifeboats" by the time they'd pointed out that spreadsheet formulas aren't stored as binary. I never knew...

I don't really see why they'd get a patent for it, tho'. It's just a compiler for a functional programming language, with the declerations (variables) all called A1, A2, B1, B2, etcetc. Sadly, they'll probably get one anyway."

You're BS-ometer is well calibrated. But sometimes, well, how to put this delicately? Sometimes, you have to put sugar in the medicine to get a child to take what's good for them. Our feeling is there's a group of people out there who can benefit from this product, and not all of them have calibrated BS-ometers. If we were selling snake oil, dumbing down the story to get people to buy it would be unethical. I don't think this is snake oil.

As for a patent, I think there's more to it than a compiler for a functional programming language, but since I've never used a functional programming language I can't say with confidence. Don't worry about us getting a patent, though. We're not nearly as big as Microsoft, IBM, or any of the other patent factories, so as I've learned (sadly) a patent is worthless without $2M to spend enforcing it.

Can't really on that woman's picture, though. You guys have said it all...

So what is TurboExcel? You start with a spreadsheet that does some calculations. Some cells drive the calculations, some cells contain the results of the calculations. You tell TurboExcel which cells are the drivers, and which cells are the results, and it creates a function that takes the drivers as inputs and returns the results. The function is compiled to a DLL or a Linux .so, and also compiled into an Excel addin function. It doesn't operate on one cell at a time, it operates on a group of cells (unlike a Microsoft patent, by the way).

And if you create another Excel spreadsheet that uses that addin function, it too can be turned into a function in a DLL, ad infinitum.

Is this a big deal? Depends on who you are. If you don't know how to program, and you know how to use spreadsheets, you've now got a lot of power you didn't have before (we assume that's a good thing...). And even if you know how to code (like us) lots of times it's just plain simpler to throw together a prototype in Excel, and when you've got it working, instead of redoing it in C we just push a button and get the things instantly. And if you want to secure your spreadsheets, to either hide proprietary formulas or just prevent people from screwing up a spreadsheet they got from someone else, it can help you there, too.

teedyay

@Irrelevant said:

my BS-ometer jumped straight to "waders recommended"

Like it. I will use that phrase tomorrow.

@savvysoft said:

lots

Oh, I'm laughing so hard it hurts!

sidargo

And thats about 1000 bonus points for SavvySoft (did I get those caps right?) for actually taking the time to respond.

Kudos!

llxx

Reminds me of an old program that converted DOS batch files to executables (EXEs). A wierd concept but workable... however not too useful either.

savvysoft

@llxx said:

Reminds me of an old program that converted DOS batch files to executables (EXEs). A wierd concept but workable... however not too useful either.

Well, it depends on what you do. A stethoscope isn't very useful to me, since I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But to some people, it's very useful.

A lot of people find TurboExcel to be quite useful, as well. Not doctors, though...

emptyset

@savvysoft said:

Well, it depends on what you do. A stethoscope isn't very useful to me, since I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But to some people, it's very useful.

i'm not a doctor, but i have an endless number of uses for a stethoscope. like you, i am also not a doctor on tv. i am not sure i would use a stethoscope if i was something other than a doctor on tv. what i do is not related to doctors or stethoscopes, and yet i have uses for them. what i do is not played out by me on tv. if i were to play what i do on tv, i would probably not use a stethoscope. interestingly, the question of whether or not i'd find use for a stethoscope while playing something other than a doctor or what i do is very indeterminate.

@emptyset said:

@savvysoft said:
Well, it depends on what you do. A stethoscope isn't very useful to me, since I'm not a doctor, nor do I play one on TV. But to some people, it's very useful.

i'm not a doctor, but i have an endless number of uses for a stethoscope. like you, i am also not a doctor on tv. i am not sure i would use a stethoscope if i was something other than a doctor on tv. what i do is not related to doctors or stethoscopes, and yet i have uses for them. what i do is not played out by me on tv. if i were to play what i do on tv, i would probably not use a stethoscope. interestingly, the question of whether or not i'd find use for a stethoscope while playing something other than a doctor or what i do is very indeterminate.

Will you stop posting stoned already?

If you absolutely have to, please mix some acid in with the weed so it's entertaining.

emptyset

@foxyshadis said:

Will you stop posting stoned already? If you absolutely have to, please mix some acid in with the weed so it's entertaining.

will you stop playing with the jump to conclusions mat long enough to realize that you can't make assessments about people you don't know and things you've never done?

Richard Nixon

@emptyset said:

@foxyshadis said:
Will you stop
posting stoned already? If you absolutely have to, please mix
some acid in with the weed so it's entertaining.

will you stop playing with the jump to conclusions mat long enough to realize that you can't make assessments about people you don't know and things you've never done?

We're not going to get into this again, are we?

Sincerely,

Richard Nixon

emptyset

@Richard Nixon said:

We're not going to get into this again, are we?

no, i've posted many a time in profound sobriety since i'm at work right now.