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This is a momnkeypaw situation- you wish for VBA from office products to be removed, so the monkeypaw grants your wish, but you get to be the poor SOB who reimp

This is a momnkeypaw situation- you wish for VBA from office products to be removed, so the monkeypaw grants your wish, but you get to be the poor SOB who reimplements the billions of lines of code that is duct taping together business logic in these documents all around the world.

rnk 4y ago
These execution possibilities on word docs and other microsoft office docs are inherently dangerous, everyone knows it. I guess we need real apps to do things. We all know it.
- Jtsummers 4y ago
  What's a "real app"? How much does it cost? How long until it's ready? How well does it integrate with other systems you're already using? Can the users extend it or do you have to purchase a support contract and still pay extra $$$$$$ to get even a basic feature added? Companies and individuals keep using Excel and other things because they work for them today. They integrate well enough with the other things they're using. It's a mess, don't get me wrong, and a security nightmare. But you need to come up with something that Alice in Accounting, Bob in Billing, Charlie in Contracting and all the other non-technical folks can use and extend themselves. Locking them into "real apps" is the reason they break out Excel. They need to get things done, and the apps they're provided are insufficient so they make (or inherit from their predecessors) their own.
  - albatross13 4y ago
    [flagged]
    - brewtide 4y ago
      [flagged]
  - albatross13 4y ago
    A real app costs about tree fiddy one.
- idiotsecant 4y ago
  You realize that IT infrastructure is for doing things, right? Your system can have a security design that makes the harmony of the spheres look like ramen noodles glued to cardboard, but if the business doesn't make money, it's wrong.
tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago
I wonder how much of this business logic would still work if sandboxed (i.e. the code couldn't access anything outside the currently open file). Certainly not everything, but it would make it easier to e.g. allow sandboxed code by default and then require signing/approvals for anything else.

rnk 4y ago

These execution possibilities on word docs and other microsoft office docs are inherently dangerous, everyone knows it. I guess we need real apps to do things. We all know it.

Jtsummers 4y ago
What's a "real app"? How much does it cost? How long until it's ready? How well does it integrate with other systems you're already using? Can the users extend it or do you have to purchase a support contract and still pay extra $$$$$$ to get even a basic feature added? Companies and individuals keep using Excel and other things because they work for them today. They integrate well enough with the other things they're using. It's a mess, don't get me wrong, and a security nightmare. But you need to come up with something that Alice in Accounting, Bob in Billing, Charlie in Contracting and all the other non-technical folks can use and extend themselves. Locking them into "real apps" is the reason they break out Excel. They need to get things done, and the apps they're provided are insufficient so they make (or inherit from their predecessors) their own.
- albatross13 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - brewtide 4y ago
    [flagged]
- albatross13 4y ago
  A real app costs about tree fiddy one.
idiotsecant 4y ago
You realize that IT infrastructure is for doing things, right? Your system can have a security design that makes the harmony of the spheres look like ramen noodles glued to cardboard, but if the business doesn't make money, it's wrong.

tgsovlerkhgsel 4y ago

I wonder how much of this business logic would still work if sandboxed (i.e. the code couldn't access anything outside the currently open file). Certainly not everything, but it would make it easier to e.g. allow sandboxed code by default and then require signing/approvals for anything else.