Have moved on to other software pastures now, but spent many years building large-scale LOB applications whose sole presentation layer was Excel. Seamless feder

Have moved on to other software pastures now, but spent many years building large-scale LOB applications whose sole presentation layer was Excel. Seamless federated data sources, powerful multi-dimensional calculations, easy (re)formatting and charting, and very, very fast delivery, usually around 5-10% of that of some "killer app" from a team of developers the client couldn't afford. And around 5-10% training time, too, because say what you want about their idiocy level, users GET Excel, quickly. It is ultra-intuitive, to the extent that any technology/business tool can be. Those who sanctioned trading on VaR models built on pasted data were obviously not qualified to hold their jobs. Neither are those who over-glorify or over-promote the virtues of "it ain't real unless programmers built it", and I say that as a programmer. I work with other UI tools now, but I have yet to work with a better or faster-adopted one. The ubiquity of Excel in the workplace is well earned; the poverty of its many implementations is no different from all the other ubiquitous human poverties.