4 ms·

I'm yet to find a single decent alternative to Excel. It's an excellent data modeling and analysis tool. And yes, I've learned Python, R and SQL, but these too

I'm yet to find a single decent alternative to Excel. It's an excellent data modeling and analysis tool. And yes, I've learned Python, R and SQL, but these tools are not a replacement for the Excel workflow.

braderhart 9y ago
What features are lacking specifically that LibreOffice, Google Sheets, or some other cross-platform solution doesn't have?
- dspig 9y ago
  execution speed would be a big one
  - braderhart 9y ago
    Do you have any performance benchmarking to show the difference between Excel and LibreOffice Calc, because my experience LibreOffice is much better on resources. I would like to see what tests you are using so that I can run them myself.
- bko 9y ago
  Keyboard shortcuts are huge. Also I’m used to the ribbon which I don’t think they copied yet
  - braderhart 9y ago
    All of the apps I suggested have excellent keyboard shortcuts and options as well. So this is really about the ribbon interface to you? I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for?
    - bko 9y ago
      > I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for? That’s really unnecessary. I don’t have any of the alternatives available to me right now but if you’re honestly curious I could take another look this weekend and see if every widely used function has a shortcut. But from what I remember many don’t. I would love to see a plugin that maps excel shortcuts to either libre office or open office
    - legitster 9y ago
      > I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for? What an, awful, terrible sentiment. "The only reason someone could ever disagree with me is they are a paid shill".
    - sctb 9y ago
      Please stop breaking the guidelines, like we've already asked. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
  - copperx 9y ago
    The ribbon has a software patent, if I remember correctly. Although it's a UI element, so I'm not sure if it's enforceable?
    - paulie_a 9y ago
      I am thankful that the ribbon UI is patented, it prevents that terrible experience getting more widely implemented
- golergka 9y ago
  Good products are not just a collection of features.
matwood 9y ago
I was coming here to say this. Nothing compares to Excel. The problem with replacing Excel is that it has thousands of features, and every user seems to use a different subset of those features. With that said, a large majority of users can probably get by with what GSuite offers.
- rileymat2 9y ago
  I still have basic problems sometimes with trying to copy out of google sheets. It is unpredictable.
aaronarduino 9y ago
It is true, Excel has a wonderful workflow. Something open source with excel workflow combined with R and SQL would be nice.
patrickaljord 9y ago
Did you try Airtable? https://www.producthunt.com/posts/airtable-blocks https://www.producthunt.com/posts/airtable-blocks
WDCDev 9y ago
I agree. I have been using it for over 20 years now, and use it almost daily in many different capacities. Excel along with the entire MS Office suite of applications is ubiquitous across almost every enterprise. I am curious how Airbus is going to handle external vendors, customers and organizations sending them complex Excel Spreadsheets and Word Documents.
- karambahh 9y ago
  They are big enough for their contracts to enforce usage of something other than the de facto standard. Not only are they big but a lot of their suppliers are SMEs which in effect are economically dependent to Airbus (even if they carefully avoid dependence to them in the legal definition of the expression).
  - arbie 9y ago
    The more likely outcome is continued use of Office at vendor interfaces.
hinkley 9y ago
Long have I wished for an open source spreadsheet tool built on a database backend. I don’t hear the stories as much these days but for ages it was common for contracting firms to come into a place and find they’d been running the whole operation as an Excel spreadsheet and they had a very poor understanding of how complicated it would be to grow their system. Basically a complete rewrite to a DB model. I thought for sure when Oracle bought Sun that this would be forthcoming but nothing came of it.
- zdragnar 9y ago
  That was exactly my experience around two years ago. The brand of the company was far, far more valuable than their internal processes or capabilities as a result, and it was a painful migration (still is, from what I hear).
legitster 9y ago
It's hard to describe why Excel is so good at what it does. The only way I can think to describe it is "the most amount of power for the least amount of work."

braderhart 9y ago

What features are lacking specifically that LibreOffice, Google Sheets, or some other cross-platform solution doesn't have?

dspig 9y ago
execution speed would be a big one
- braderhart 9y ago
  Do you have any performance benchmarking to show the difference between Excel and LibreOffice Calc, because my experience LibreOffice is much better on resources. I would like to see what tests you are using so that I can run them myself.
bko 9y ago
Keyboard shortcuts are huge. Also I’m used to the ribbon which I don’t think they copied yet
- braderhart 9y ago
  All of the apps I suggested have excellent keyboard shortcuts and options as well. So this is really about the ribbon interface to you? I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for?
  - bko 9y ago
    > I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for? That’s really unnecessary. I don’t have any of the alternatives available to me right now but if you’re honestly curious I could take another look this weekend and see if every widely used function has a shortcut. But from what I remember many don’t. I would love to see a plugin that maps excel shortcuts to either libre office or open office
  - legitster 9y ago
    > I am wondering which Microsoft PR company you work for? What an, awful, terrible sentiment. "The only reason someone could ever disagree with me is they are a paid shill".
  - sctb 9y ago
    Please stop breaking the guidelines, like we've already asked. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- copperx 9y ago
  The ribbon has a software patent, if I remember correctly. Although it's a UI element, so I'm not sure if it's enforceable?
  - paulie_a 9y ago
    I am thankful that the ribbon UI is patented, it prevents that terrible experience getting more widely implemented
golergka 9y ago
Good products are not just a collection of features.

matwood 9y ago

I was coming here to say this. Nothing compares to Excel. The problem with replacing Excel is that it has thousands of features, and every user seems to use a different subset of those features. With that said, a large majority of users can probably get by with what GSuite offers.

rileymat2 9y ago
I still have basic problems sometimes with trying to copy out of google sheets. It is unpredictable.

aaronarduino 9y ago

It is true, Excel has a wonderful workflow. Something open source with excel workflow combined with R and SQL would be nice.

patrickaljord 9y ago

Did you try Airtable? https://www.producthunt.com/posts/airtable-blocks https://www.producthunt.com/posts/airtable-blocks

WDCDev 9y ago

I agree. I have been using it for over 20 years now, and use it almost daily in many different capacities. Excel along with the entire MS Office suite of applications is ubiquitous across almost every enterprise. I am curious how Airbus is going to handle external vendors, customers and organizations sending them complex Excel Spreadsheets and Word Documents.

karambahh 9y ago
They are big enough for their contracts to enforce usage of something other than the de facto standard. Not only are they big but a lot of their suppliers are SMEs which in effect are economically dependent to Airbus (even if they carefully avoid dependence to them in the legal definition of the expression).
- arbie 9y ago
  The more likely outcome is continued use of Office at vendor interfaces.

hinkley 9y ago

Long have I wished for an open source spreadsheet tool built on a database backend. I don’t hear the stories as much these days but for ages it was common for contracting firms to come into a place and find they’d been running the whole operation as an Excel spreadsheet and they had a very poor understanding of how complicated it would be to grow their system. Basically a complete rewrite to a DB model. I thought for sure when Oracle bought Sun that this would be forthcoming but nothing came of it.

zdragnar 9y ago
That was exactly my experience around two years ago. The brand of the company was far, far more valuable than their internal processes or capabilities as a result, and it was a painful migration (still is, from what I hear).

legitster 9y ago

It's hard to describe why Excel is so good at what it does. The only way I can think to describe it is "the most amount of power for the least amount of work."