> Excel is one of the most successful pieces of software of all time

This is constantly repeated truisms, and yet I don't use it and have no plans using it. I'm certain I'm not alone. Excel is counterintuitive and not 'consumable' as the opposite to SQLite. Surely I understand it not the same. Also I suspect most of the Excel users use it like CVS editor.

▲

narcraft 2 days ago | parent | next [-]

Anyone who hasn't used Excel is totally out of touch with reality (constrained to developed world). Excel is counterintuitive to whom? What intuition does it upset? It's a grid of cells. Each cell can reference any other. You can immediately see the definition of any cell when selecting it. I'd wager that it's used as a presentation or modeling tool far more than as a CSV editor. Its dynamic aggregated views, what-if scenarios, charting and dashboarding hardly could be replicated with SQLite or CSV tools alone. Surely not as seamlessly or intuitively as Excel.

	▲	uticus 2 days ago \| parent [-]
		Agreed, it has permeated every single industry in the developed world. Professional software developers have been known to reach for it, in a pinch, over dozens of other known and much more powerful tools. The immediate feedback and visual layout make it the definition of "killer app." Jupiter notebooks has been trying to replicate the magic for years. Entire businesses and industries are built around selling products to successfully replicate what was originally living in a spreadsheet somewhere.

▲

uticus 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

> I don't use it and have no plans using it. I'm certain I'm not alone.

Too easy to refute. Treating "Excel" as actually "spreadsheet processing," the software has been so consistently and hugely popular that everything from early PDAs [0] to Google Sheets / iCloud Numbers has supported it. Every type of personal computing device has it, from graphic calculators [1] to laptops to tablets to PDAs to many cell phones.

> I suspect most of the Excel users use it like CVS editor.

Like some classes of addictive chemical compounds, you may start with this but quickly find it is the gateway to other habits.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HP_95LX

[1] https://education.ti.com/en/software/details/en/139B977E62CB...

▲

TZubiri 2 days ago | parent | prev | next [-]

Tell me what other piece of software gives so much turing-complete power to non-technical users.

"Karen" can literally write programs with little training, there's memory, there's functions, there's references, excel is the best.

▲

betaby 2 days ago | parent [-]

Problem arises when "Karen" leaves the company. Then the company asks the "IT guy" to "help" with that Excel sheet on a shared. Again, as I highlighted Excel sheets is not a 'consumable' software. OK to use for one time things, but in a long run it's most likely a mistake.

	▲	nyeah 2 days ago \| parent \| next [-]
		We never ever see this scenario happen with code :-)
	▲	afiori 2 days ago \| parent \| prev [-]
		Famously Jane's Street started by using excel automation for its core trading business. I do not particularly like excel, I find it interesting but often obtuse and limited in annoying ways and I agree that for an established workflow using "proper" code is generally better. But imho where Excel excels is in dynamic exploration and supporting decision making, where the type of analysis and visualisations you might want to do can change radically and quickly

▲

nyeah 2 days ago | parent | prev [-]

I don't see how that matters. XYZ can still be the most successfulest even if you don't use it. Even if 1,000,000 people don't use it.

I feel like I'm hearing "Hundreds of people who don't like Elvis can't be wrong". And I don't even like Elvis!