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I only use Google Sheets

mayberay.bearblog.dev

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Re: I only use Google Sheets

#171

Post by breadwinner »

thesuitonym wrote: post #100
corry wrote: post #59

Always overlooked point in these pro/anti-spreadsheet discussions: A spreadsheet gives you a DB, a quickly and easily customized UI, and iterative / easy-to-debug data processing all in a package that everyone in the working world already understands. AND with a freedom that allows the creator to do it however they want. AND it's fairly portable. You can build incredible things in spreadsheets. I remain convinced tha…

Another oft overlooked point is that anti-spreadsheet people aren't actually against using spreadsheets, we just want our coworkers to stop placing mission critical operations in an enormous, half-baked spreadsheet that exists only in some long-since retired users home directory.

You need to give them a tool that's as easy to use as a spreadsheet, and yet stores data in a relational database. There are plenty of spreadsheet-database hybrids in the market.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#172

Post by gregates »

thesuitonym wrote: post #100
corry wrote: post #59

Always overlooked point in these pro/anti-spreadsheet discussions: A spreadsheet gives you a DB, a quickly and easily customized UI, and iterative / easy-to-debug data processing all in a package that everyone in the working world already understands. AND with a freedom that allows the creator to do it however they want. AND it's fairly portable. You can build incredible things in spreadsheets. I remain convinced tha…

Another oft overlooked point is that anti-spreadsheet people aren't actually against using spreadsheets, we just want our coworkers to stop placing mission critical operations in an enormous, half-baked spreadsheet that exists only in some long-since retired users home directory.

As someone who has been to multiple trade shows to show off our own spreadsheet product that solves some of these problems (https://rowzero.io/home), I can tell you there are a bunch of data engineers and their managers who have a visceral hatred of spreadsheets but have trouble articulating any reason for it.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#173

Post by breadwinner »

RcouF1uZ4gsC wrote: post #169
thesuitonym wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another oft overlooked point is that anti-spreadsheet people aren't actually against using spreadsheets, we just want our coworkers to stop placing mission critical operations in an enormous, half-baked spreadsheet that exists only in some long-since retired users home directory.

As opposed to placing the mission critical operations in some huge enterprise Java deployment which has been touched by thousands of contractors, all of whom have only a very rudimentary understanding of the actual business logic. I think even a complicated spreadsheet that can be directly edited and modified by the actual business stakeholders is preferred.

> even a complicated spreadsheet that can be directly edited and modified by the actual business stakeholders

You can do that in a spreadsheet-database hybrid such as Airtable.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#174

Post by CrulesAll »

corry wrote: post #59

Always overlooked point in these pro/anti-spreadsheet discussions: A spreadsheet gives you a DB, a quickly and easily customized UI, and iterative / easy-to-debug data processing all in a package that everyone in the working world already understands. AND with a freedom that allows the creator to do it however they want. AND it's fairly portable. You can build incredible things in spreadsheets. I remain convinced tha…

Poe's law. If you use a spreadsheet as a DB for any sort of application, you should be tarred and feathered, and never infect any engineering team ever.

Your 'trifles' are the biggest screw-ups from functionality to INFOSEC.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#175

Post by crazygringo »

aitchnyu wrote: post #130
Spooky23 wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Google rage on HN is immature. That's a feature of any SaaS. Adobe frequently shuts down ETLA customers due their own invoice processing failures. I can think of three significant government subdivisions that were unable to access any M365 service for 1-10 days as a result of a reseller change. The real lesson here is that you need to understand the failure domains of the technology your business depends on. Your…

Why would a government division (or any 20-person office) pay a reseller?

Because government purchases go through the procurement office which is using an authorized reseller under a larger government contract.

Resellers handle a bunch of compliance paperwork necessary for the government, and are also contracted for migration and support needs.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#176

Post by breadwinner »

jasode wrote: post #126
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? There's also Google's AppSheet, which may be that too.

>Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? No because the datagrid in MS Access is too rigid and doesn't have the extensive slice-&-dice features of MS Excel. My first consulting gig was creating customized MS Access applications. Despite that experience, I use MS Excel today because I know that MS Access is too limiting.

Have you tried Airtable? It works like a spreadsheet but is a database underneath.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#178

Post by breadwinner »

sroerick wrote: post #120
Cthulhu_ wrote: post #66

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wasn't Microsoft Access basically that? There's also Google's AppSheet, which may be that too.

You know, I used Retool a lot, and it made me think that I'd actually really like a modern Microsoft Access. Kind of an open source Google Forms/ Access where you could deploy front ends very quickly and have it hit a DB

Here's a modern Microsoft Access: https://visualdb.com/

Or try Airtable.

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#179

Post by gregates »

breadwinner wrote: post #171
thesuitonym wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Another oft overlooked point is that anti-spreadsheet people aren't actually against using spreadsheets, we just want our coworkers to stop placing mission critical operations in an enormous, half-baked spreadsheet that exists only in some long-since retired users home directory.

You need to give them a tool that's as easy to use as a spreadsheet, and yet stores data in a relational database. There are plenty of spreadsheet-database hybrids in the market.

Are any of them as easy to use as a spreadsheet?

Re: I only use Google Sheets

#180

Post by breadwinner »

compiler-guy wrote: post #110
dotancohen wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> especially so for people who can't code. Presumably those people learned to use a spreadsheet. What makes learning spreadsheet formulae possible, but SQL, Python, or R impossible?

It is far easier to work your way into programming via spreadsheets than via sql. One day you are writing ‘sum(a2:a201)’ the next you do some conditional formatting and so the complexity builds up very slowly with your needs. With sql, day one: ‘SELECT SUM(Column) AS Total FROM Table;‘ Way more complicated. Way more powerful too, but most people don’t need the power until much later. And you have to work in the conso…

That's not true, you can use Airtable to get the ease of use of a spreadsheet with the robustness of a database.
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