Simply replacing Excel will be a massive challenge.
I root for it, but it will be difficult.
I root for it, but it will be difficult.
It's a db not a spreadsheet but it's basically the tool I actually needed when I would reach for excel.
I think a lot of “just use Libre Office” arguments are much like “just use Linux.” There’s a deep misunderstanding of what the value is with Excel. Being technically equivalent with features scores very few points.
I'd also argue that Excel is holding back businesses. Instead of storing information in CSVs (for R or Python processing) or SQL, people rely on it when they shouldn't. It's not just that developers dislike Excel, it's that using it frequently causes huge errors:
https://theconversation.com/the-reinhart-rogoff-error-or-how...
Million and Billion dollar businesses run their whole companies off Excel. They're not really interested in the risk a software change would entail for their companies or individual careers.
> I'd also argue that Excel is holding back businesses.
Agree 100%
I have heard that but never really observed that.
What you usually really have is a number of execs spending their live micromanaging via excel and annoying in cascade all the hierarchical levels below them with excel reports but only a small fraction of them usually have any real business logic and it wouldn't be complicated to switch to something else.
It is simply the good old resistance to change.
In my first job in IT while waiting for my first unix sysadmin role I did some windows support + migrations, I've seen medical secretaries enter in proper rage because we had replaced word 95 for word 97 and the icons were slightly different. Keyboards were launched against monitors. Even accross variying versions of products of the same editor resistance to change applies.
The biggest challenge with replacing Microsoft is licenses come bundled. With office 365 comes online storage/sharing platform, email, chat platform. If you want to move out you need to find alternatives for all of them and all at the same time otherwise you are paying more for the same thing.
https://en.libre-office.fr/article.php/libreoffice-calc-free...
give it a go. Ive never had problems for my use case.
Mentioning libreoffice as competitor to Excel and Access is like you haven't understood the market, at all.
Excel is a cross department business automation database, which can sync/pull/push datasets across filesystems and networks.
VBA is the single most used language in Enterprise because it allows to automate pretty much any financial workflow. And more importantly: automated by non-programmers.
Libreoffice is made for private users, and that's not the same users that VBA powered office documents have.
https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/lo/text/sbasic/shared/vb...
are you trying to say its too hard to step into libre from VBS?
https://libreoffice-basic-reference.readthedocs.io/en/latest...
you can stay with MS if you want, but really you dont have to.
also i didnt mention libre as competitor, but as replacement.
its really not that hard, and it might be useful, if MS ends up finding that final straw that breaks it for everyone, you would be better off having a head start and level ground, rather than staring up a wall for employment.
i recommend you orient to it, for future proofing.
scripting:
https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/en-US/text/shared/guide/...
API:
https://api.libreoffice.org/docs/idl/ref/annotated.html
BASIC:
https://wiki.documentfoundation.org/Documentation/BASIC_Guid...
Working with VBA Macros
https://help.libreoffice.org/latest/lo/text/sbasic/shared/vb...
It's a question about compatibility.
As long as xlsx files have to be modified, libre office is a non replacement.
No business would even dare to risk this from an operational perspective. That's my whole point, and the whole argument why Microsoft created their own "dip" with it.
If you as an open source promoter within the company tell C-staff that "you found a solution that might be compatible" they gonna ask you what exactly needs what amount of time. And believe me when I tell you, even getting a sharepoint workflow to run with libreoffice is almost impossible without replacing pretty much everything underneath it.
Making MS office as uninteroperable as possible is the reason companies cannot switch, because they have a legal requirement to archive and access the document for at least 10 years (in some industries up to 20 years when it comes to book keeping and accounting).
So if you propose libreoffice as a solution that
- isn't compatible 1:1
- isn't even guessable how long it takes
- forces unpredictable infrastructure changes
- ends up not rendering your documents that are _legally mandated_
Then guess what the response of your CEO will be.
No amount of downvotes or "opinions" on what is better will change this.
I'm a proponent of open source, but leadership of libreoffice does not seem to understand _why_ companies are using Microsoft office. And that is the core problem that has to be fixed.
There needs to be a predictable and guaranteeable migration path. And as long as there isn't even a converter wizard or anything that helps you with that, libreoffice is a non starter.