[Blindmath] Minitab Express

[Godfrey, Jonathan]

Hi all,

I've just added the following to my statistical software review page.
http:R-Resources.massey.ac.nz/StatSoftware

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Minitab Express
This product was released in 2014. My initial investigation was required as this is the only Minitab version that runs on a Mac without use of a Windows emulator, that my Mac-using first-year students could use. My testing was done using the Windows version, and from an access point of view this product is a dog.
Hot keys do exist for opening files and pulling down the right menu, but the ribbon-style of finding the right dialogue was frustrating. On many occasions, the use of cursor keys to move around the ribbon led to confusing feedback and did not always lead to the right ribbon element being found. The dialogue boxes were quite clean compared to the ones found in the standard Minitab version.
I could not tell what was in each cell of the data worksheet; I could not tell what was in the output window as all output was in the form of a png graphic; I found no way of accessing the functionality of menus and dialogue boxes using commands as I would have used in other Minitab versions.
In summary, I was hugely disappointed in this product which might have solved the problems I've identified with other Minitab products.
As an aside, this product is not meeting with uniform support from my colleagues either. They complain about the inability to complete some tasks that are fairly standard features. They identify the problem of editing a graph for making it publication standard in particular.
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I've forwarded my review to the Minitab Tech Support team to see if I've missed anything crucial, but to be honest, I'm not holding my breath that they will fix the problems in a hurry.

Jonathan