most people in tech don't get what Excel is imo. start with the idea that it's a fully featured virtual machine that uses a different interface metaphor than a

most people in tech don't get what Excel is imo. start with the idea that it's a fully featured virtual machine that uses a different interface metaphor than a command line or windowing. it's useful to think of it as an abstraction layer where business runs, it's where value is demonstrated. those user spreadsheets are computers/hosts/vms and I'd argue that's often the disconnect between what technologists think they are supporting and what users think should be supported. of course custom code is better at pretty much anything. I've been a unix user since the bsdi days and so to me spreadsheets are a cruel toy running in a blue tinted mental prison, but when you see excel as a different and sophisticated UX metaphor for a fully featured machine that the user uses for raw arithmetic computation, and as an alternative to a command line or a browser, it's much easier to respect. that's absolutely essential for understanding it and its users. the thing about excel is if you don't use it i guarantee you work for someone who does as the tabular metaphor is the system of the world. even if reality is more complex and needs more complex objects to model it, human beings ultimately organize around the contents of spreadsheets. hand wavy, but I don't know how else to tell developers and product people they need to take excel seriously.