4 ms·

I feel like Excel is their one true moat. Everything else is a business play, but Excel is the only truly superior tech compared to the alternatives.

embedding-shape 6mo ago
Besides just being everywhere and being ubiquitous (which isn't really a "tech benefit" anyways) what exactly makes Excel "truly superior tech compared to the alternatives"?
- Waterluvian 6mo ago
  There’s a lot of features. I think the one I would present is the enormously complex backwards compatibility support. Companies run on .xls / .xlsx files even if developers are offended by how they use and share them. I think a lot of “just use Libre Office” arguments are much like “just use Linux.” There’s a deep misunderstanding of what the value is with Excel. Being technically equivalent with features scores very few points.
  - cwnyth 6mo ago
    I've never experienced any compatibility issues with XLS(X) in LibreOffice Calc, and I've been Windows-free for over a decade. Sure, some spreadsheets might have unique functions in it, but I doubt that's the case for the majority over people using Excel. I'd also argue that Excel is holding back businesses. Instead of storing information in CSVs (for R or Python processing) or SQL, people rely on it when they shouldn't. It's not just that developers dislike Excel, it's that using it frequently causes huge errors: https://theconversation.com/the-reinhart-rogoff-error-or-how-not-to-excel-at-economics-13646 https://theconversation.com/the-reinhart-rogoff-error-or-how...
    - JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
      [dead]
    - esseph 6mo ago
      > Sure, some spreadsheets might have unique functions in it Million and Billion dollar businesses run their whole companies off Excel. They're not really interested in the risk a software change would entail for their companies or individual careers. > I'd also argue that Excel is holding back businesses. Agree 100%
      - prmoustache 6mo ago
        > Million and Billion dollar businesses run their whole companies off Excel. They're not really interested in the risk a software change would entail for their companies or individual careers. I have heard that but never really observed that. What you usually really have is a number of execs spending their live micromanaging via excel and annoying in cascade all the hierarchical levels below them with excel reports but only a small fraction of them usually have any real business logic and it wouldn't be complicated to switch to something else. It is simply the good old resistance to change. In my first job in IT while waiting for my first unix sysadmin role I did some windows support + migrations, I've seen medical secretaries enter in proper rage because we had replaced word 95 for word 97 and the icons were slightly different. Keyboards were launched against monitors. Even accross variying versions of products of the same editor resistance to change applies. The biggest challenge with replacing Microsoft is licenses come bundled. With office 365 comes online storage/sharing platform, email, chat platform. If you want to move out you need to find alternatives for all of them and all at the same time otherwise you are paying more for the same thing.
  - prmoustache 6mo ago
    I don't know are we sure about that? I remember helping users unable to open a spreadsheet that grew too big in excel. Was working fine on openoffice (libreoffice wasn't yet a thing).
happygoose 6mo ago
not activedirectory as well?
- deleted 6mo ago
  [deleted]

embedding-shape 6mo ago

Besides just being everywhere and being ubiquitous (which isn't really a "tech benefit" anyways) what exactly makes Excel "truly superior tech compared to the alternatives"?

Waterluvian 6mo ago
There’s a lot of features. I think the one I would present is the enormously complex backwards compatibility support. Companies run on .xls / .xlsx files even if developers are offended by how they use and share them. I think a lot of “just use Libre Office” arguments are much like “just use Linux.” There’s a deep misunderstanding of what the value is with Excel. Being technically equivalent with features scores very few points.
- cwnyth 6mo ago
  I've never experienced any compatibility issues with XLS(X) in LibreOffice Calc, and I've been Windows-free for over a decade. Sure, some spreadsheets might have unique functions in it, but I doubt that's the case for the majority over people using Excel. I'd also argue that Excel is holding back businesses. Instead of storing information in CSVs (for R or Python processing) or SQL, people rely on it when they shouldn't. It's not just that developers dislike Excel, it's that using it frequently causes huge errors: https://theconversation.com/the-reinhart-rogoff-error-or-how-not-to-excel-at-economics-13646 https://theconversation.com/the-reinhart-rogoff-error-or-how...
  - JumpCrisscross 6mo ago
    [dead]
  - esseph 6mo ago
    > Sure, some spreadsheets might have unique functions in it Million and Billion dollar businesses run their whole companies off Excel. They're not really interested in the risk a software change would entail for their companies or individual careers. > I'd also argue that Excel is holding back businesses. Agree 100%
    - prmoustache 6mo ago
      > Million and Billion dollar businesses run their whole companies off Excel. They're not really interested in the risk a software change would entail for their companies or individual careers. I have heard that but never really observed that. What you usually really have is a number of execs spending their live micromanaging via excel and annoying in cascade all the hierarchical levels below them with excel reports but only a small fraction of them usually have any real business logic and it wouldn't be complicated to switch to something else. It is simply the good old resistance to change. In my first job in IT while waiting for my first unix sysadmin role I did some windows support + migrations, I've seen medical secretaries enter in proper rage because we had replaced word 95 for word 97 and the icons were slightly different. Keyboards were launched against monitors. Even accross variying versions of products of the same editor resistance to change applies. The biggest challenge with replacing Microsoft is licenses come bundled. With office 365 comes online storage/sharing platform, email, chat platform. If you want to move out you need to find alternatives for all of them and all at the same time otherwise you are paying more for the same thing.
- prmoustache 6mo ago
  I don't know are we sure about that? I remember helping users unable to open a spreadsheet that grew too big in excel. Was working fine on openoffice (libreoffice wasn't yet a thing).

happygoose 6mo ago

not activedirectory as well?

deleted 6mo ago
[deleted]