I believe you mean "abused" not adapted. I spent most of last week cleaning up and replacing an email-the-Excel-file-around "solution" with one out-of-the-box

I believe you mean "abused" not adapted. I spent most of last week cleaning up and replacing an email-the-Excel-file-around "solution" with one out-of-the-box sharepoint list. Fortunately, the change was mandated by someone with the knowledge to see that the Excel based "solution" was a horrible idea, and the power to enforce the replacement's use. Unfortunately, the data is now at the mercy of sharepoint, at least that problem rests on others.