Darryl Collins
darryl at whittleconsulting.com.au
Wed May 28 20:47:16 CDT 2014
Heh... That's mostly because Excel is still by far the leading spreadsheet offering on nearly any metric you choose - the others are just toys to tinker with. Sure Google docs and Open office offer some uses for those who use Excel like a calculator on 'roids or want to (shudder) collaborate using a single workbook (some pros, big cons in my opinion). But Excel has a few aces up its sleeve, including, but not limited to; 1: Global acceptance. You can send anyone an Excel file and it can generally be accessed seamlessly, or well enough. 2: Stand-alone files that can be saved as versions and or emailed. Whilst some see this as a shortcoming, a lot of folks prefer it over the "many random hands tampering with my work" Google model. Something are not meant to be adjusted by 'do-gooders'! 3: VBA - the golden goose and the primary reason Excel still rules. It makes it much more powerful and useful than the competition. VBA gives Excel huge flexibility and power. Something Google Docs et al cannot touch. This alone will keep Excel as No 1. in most places. Excel's deeply entrenched position globally is largely due to VBA and how you can integrate it seamlessly with other apps (SQL Server, mySQL etc, plus any other MS Office application). Running a Pivot table directly from an external backend database for example. Highly useful. The 'macro recorder' means even the most basic user can automate repeat tasks with relative ease and anyone with basic coding skills can start to bring the power of VBA and Excel to life. There are many millions of VBA driven spreadsheets out there - Google docs is just a fat old calculator with limit functionality. 4: Ease of integration with other MS products. 5: Familiarity - most folks know how to use it, even if they do it badly much of the time. 6: Keyboard shortcuts that have stayed the same over many years. I am sure I could dig up a few more without too much bother. :) Cheers Darryl -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of John Bartow Sent: Thursday, 29 May 2014 10:49 AM To: 'Access Developers discussion and problem solving' Subject: Re: [AccessD] [dba-OT] Why You Shouldn't Use Spreadsheets ForImportant Work I'm pretty surprised this hasn't devolved into an Excel versus <insert other spreadsheet product> argument yet ;-) -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Darryl Collins Sent: Wednesday, May 28, 2014 6:16 PM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] [dba-OT] Why You Shouldn't Use Spreadsheets ForImportant Work Excel is just a tool. A pretty darn good one for the job it was built to do - although it is used for a vast array of solutions outside of its core design strengths. It is surprising adept at other tasks. For example, Excel is a much better photo editor / graphics tool than Photoshop is at doing maths. Who would have thought? Like all tools, how effective it is utilised depends on the skill and smarts of the user. You can get the cat food out of the tin with a screwdriver and hammer, it is just a lot clean, faster and neater to use a can opener. Locking down Excel tightly removes all that is good and powerful about Excel. If you need to lock it down like that you are using the wrong tool and severely limiting your tool box in my opinion. Excel is mostly an analytical / 'what if?' reporting tool. That is what it 'excels' at. Leave your source data somewhere safe and do the number mashing and scenario testing in Excel. Worked with spreadsheets since Lotus 123 days - even had a play with visicalc, but professionally started with 123. Whilst I have seen a lot, I am still surprised at times with what folks do with Excel. It is still the killer application for the PC - although one that needs to be treated with respect and care else it will bite you back. Long live the King I say :) Cheers Darryl. -----Original Message----- From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gary Kjos Sent: Thursday, 29 May 2014 5:21 AM To: Access Developers discussion and problem solving Subject: Re: [AccessD] [dba-OT] Why You Shouldn't Use Spreadsheets ForImportant Work Well you CAN lock down spreadsheets. Just nobody hardly ever does. I'm not advocating the use of spreadsheets though. Just saying that just as there are good ones and bad ones there are also good and bad programs out there. GK On Wed, May 28, 2014 at 2:06 PM, Jim Dettman <jimdettman at verizon.net> wrote: > > Because their changed to easily, do not have the under pinning's of a > coded language, etc. > > In short, great for ad-hoc work, but that's the very reason auditors > don't like them<g>. > > I've already been involved in IT audit where I was asked to provide > source and compiled libs and had to prove that every change in source > was requested with a ticket, by whom, who authorized it, and why it > was done. > > Try doing that with a spreadsheet. > > Jim. > > -----Original Message----- > From: accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com > [mailto:accessd-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Gary Kjos > Sent: Tuesday, May 27, 2014 10:14 PM > To: Off Topic > Cc: Access Developers discussion and problem solving > Subject: Re: [AccessD] [dba-OT] Why You Shouldn't Use Spreadsheets > ForImportant Work > > And so WHY exactly shouldn't we trust them? I never got that. Because > shit is in there that could be fucked up? Just like ANY freaking > program. What a crock. > > There are ways of testing spreadsheets. No doubt spreadsheets get misused. > But to say all spreadsheets are evil is not right at all either. > > Here's a one word tip. Crossfoot. > > GK > > -- Gary Kjos garykjos at gmail.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com -- AccessD mailing list AccessD at databaseadvisors.com http://databaseadvisors.com/mailman/listinfo/accessd Website: http://www.databaseadvisors.com