Stop Using Excel, Finance Chiefs Tell Staffs

Post by ajlburke » Fri, Nov 24, 2017, 12:57 PM UTC

technofiend wrote: post #322

ajlburke wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to be a Lotus Notes specialist, and one interesting thing I noticed is that from the earliest versions it was designed specifically to be a "step up" from a spreadsheet (Lotus of course also made Lotus 1-2-3, which was the original killer-app spreadsheet before Excel took over). Notes still let you see data as rows and columns and had very spreadsheet-like functions, many of which could be transferred directly…

As a Lotus specialist I can see why you'd think Lotus 1-2-3 was the original killer app spreadsheet and as someone who worked retail at the time selling UNIX and Microsoft machines I'd have to say we sold a ton of Lotus 1-2-3. But we have to give Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston their dues because Visicalc is the original killer app spreadsheet in the literal sense: people used to say they didn't know if Visicalc sold…

Post by michaelcampbell » Sat, Nov 25, 2017, 4:31 PM UTC

forapurpose wrote: post #340

laythea wrote: post #264

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Maybe I did not appreciate it properly, but I remember using Lotus Notes at my work a few years ago, and I can remember it being the most awful piece of software I have ever used. Admittingly I am not a specialist, more an employee trying to use it to do my job.

> I can remember it being the most awful piece of software I have ever used Many people seem to say the same thing but the only problem I could ever see (in occasional use) was a non-standard UI which non-technical users had trouble grasping. What made it so awful?

Post by jstandard » Tue, Nov 28, 2017, 8:28 PM UTC

eru wrote: post #423

sheetjs wrote: post #293

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Excel is an incredible swiss army knife when dealing with one person in one location on one computer, but the warts start showing up when any of those assumptions break. One computer: once you decide you want to use your smartphone, for all but the most basic sheets there are problems with Excel mobile preview, even with Microsoft's official apps. One location: Excel's lack of a universal time (showing different time…

Add another 'one': one point in time. What I mean is that Excel is essentially a write-only language. It's very quick to prototype something for a semi-technical person, but auditing / code-reviewing an Excel sheet later is essentially impossible. The ubiquitous manual loop unrolling doesn't help readability either.