Despite Claiming Superiority, Microsoft's Excel Can't Even Handle Basic Math

In Microsoft's latest Surface ad, the reasons for choosing Office over iWork aren't exactly encouraging. In fact, despite Redmond's recent attempt at dismissing Apple's productivity apps as being "watered-down," in a new advertisement for the Surface tablet Microsoft Excel can't even handle basic addition. The news comes in an article published earlier by AppleInsider, which draws attention to a San Francisco billboard ad (pictured above) showing off Microsoft's Surface. The tablet is running Excel, which is collating aspects of a holiday budget, and the app clearly provides its user with an incorrect total cost. As you can see in the image, below, the items in Excel's list clearly total $9,500. However, the Office app gives a misleading total of $9,000, instead. Apple has made its iWork apps for iOS and OS X free for new iDevice and Mac customers, in a move that persuaded Microsoft's Corporate Vice President of Communications, Frank Shaw, to attack Apple's productivity suite in a recent blog post. Defending the $99-per-year price tag of Office 365, Shaw declared Pages, Numbers, and Keynote to be "watered-down" versions of Office, adding that the price reduction isn't all that impressive since few are actually using iWork, anyway. He wrote:

So, when I see Apple drop the price of their struggling, lightweight productivity apps, I don’t see a shot across our bow, I see an attempt to play catch up.

Of course, it seems that in the aforementioned respect, Cupertino has had the last laugh. We'll keep you updated with further information as we receive it. In the meantime, see: Bloomberg Claims Two New Curved iPhones Could Launch Next Year, Today's Best Apps: Laser Match And Paofit, and Quirky App Of The Day: Help Chickarus Fly In Chick-A-Boom.