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> It breaks down when you are using something like Excel with complex macros/calculations. As in compatibility with MS Office breaks or as in it can't be done

> It breaks down when you are using something like Excel with complex macros/calculations. As in compatibility with MS Office breaks or as in it can't be done in libreoffice? For example, if I understand it correctly libreoffice supports javascript, python, beanshell and libreoffice basic for scripting and additionally offers non-complete support for VBA. Does MS Office "break" when you try to import "complex macros/calculations" done in python?

wayneftw 7y ago
There are multiple avenues for supporting python macros and calculations in excel. As a matter of fact I believe Microsoft was considering adding python as the default scripting language for excel.
- alteria 7y ago
  It's the top voted suggestion on their UserVoice, but no updates from the devs in a while https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/10549005-python-as-an-excel-scripting-language https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-...
wil421 7y ago
The megacorp I work for has 40k people. There’s probably more people who can write Macros for excel than know JavaScript or Python (or who are willing to learn either). I’ve met business people who are masters of excel who’ve been using it since the 90s. Asking a huge amount of non-tech people to switch is extremely hard, much harder to convince them to use a new scripting language.
- diffeomorphism 7y ago
  Sure, that is a perfectly valid point. However, I think that "libreoffice breaks" says something quite different than "MS Office's VBA has bad compatibility with anything but MS Office and thus provides very strong lock-in". Out of interest, is there any non-MS office suite with better VBA compatibility than libreoffice? For instance in view to the whole Adobe Venezuela story.
penagwin 7y ago
Sure libre _might be better_ in that regard. But 99% of business sheets are done in excel, and work in excel. If they don't work in libre then that's an automatic no-go for most managers/whoever makes that decision.
marticode 7y ago
Libreoffice supports plenty of scripting options but documentation is abysmal, and there's barely a thought given to web service integration.
amyjess 7y ago
It ultimately doesn't matter. Excel macros are code, and they are very often production-critical code. The people who wrote them don't see themselves as coders, sure, and management often doesn't give the code the respect it deserves (e.g. Excel is often exempt from basic things like version control and code reviews), but it's still code that the business still depends on. When someone proposes replacing MS Office with LibreOffice, what they're really proposing is to replace the runtime that a significant amount of production code runs on with something that's only compatible with part of your codebase. "If we switch, we are going to have to rewrite a decent chunk of our production-critical code" is a non-starter, especially when coupled with the fact that the developers have no experience with the new runtime and are going to have to learn it as they port the code. And because they don't see themselves as coders, they don't have the theoretical background that makes it easier for experienced software engineers to pick up new languages.

wayneftw 7y ago

There are multiple avenues for supporting python macros and calculations in excel. As a matter of fact I believe Microsoft was considering adding python as the default scripting language for excel.

alteria 7y ago
It's the top voted suggestion on their UserVoice, but no updates from the devs in a while https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-desktop-application/suggestions/10549005-python-as-an-excel-scripting-language https://excel.uservoice.com/forums/304921-excel-for-windows-...

wil421 7y ago

The megacorp I work for has 40k people. There’s probably more people who can write Macros for excel than know JavaScript or Python (or who are willing to learn either). I’ve met business people who are masters of excel who’ve been using it since the 90s. Asking a huge amount of non-tech people to switch is extremely hard, much harder to convince them to use a new scripting language.

diffeomorphism 7y ago
Sure, that is a perfectly valid point. However, I think that "libreoffice breaks" says something quite different than "MS Office's VBA has bad compatibility with anything but MS Office and thus provides very strong lock-in". Out of interest, is there any non-MS office suite with better VBA compatibility than libreoffice? For instance in view to the whole Adobe Venezuela story.

penagwin 7y ago

Sure libre _might be better_ in that regard. But 99% of business sheets are done in excel, and work in excel. If they don't work in libre then that's an automatic no-go for most managers/whoever makes that decision.

marticode 7y ago

Libreoffice supports plenty of scripting options but documentation is abysmal, and there's barely a thought given to web service integration.

amyjess 7y ago

It ultimately doesn't matter. Excel macros are code, and they are very often production-critical code. The people who wrote them don't see themselves as coders, sure, and management often doesn't give the code the respect it deserves (e.g. Excel is often exempt from basic things like version control and code reviews), but it's still code that the business still depends on. When someone proposes replacing MS Office with LibreOffice, what they're really proposing is to replace the runtime that a significant amount of production code runs on with something that's only compatible with part of your codebase. "If we switch, we are going to have to rewrite a decent chunk of our production-critical code" is a non-starter, especially when coupled with the fact that the developers have no experience with the new runtime and are going to have to learn it as they port the code. And because they don't see themselves as coders, they don't have the theoretical background that makes it easier for experienced software engineers to pick up new languages.