Hacker News Reader

Excel is great to be sure, but it's only the really advanced features that LibreOffice Calc is missing. Things like advanced macros or embedded VB scripts.

I really doubt that people in most government agencies are using these features.

And if they're intelligent enough to use these features, learning to use Unity would not be a huge hurdle.

View on HN

These things get used all the time --- especially when statistical, economic or engineering analysis is being performed. Also, most users aren't using these features directly, they're using a template created by someone who did know how to use them. Most of what the end user does is punch in this years data and interpret the output.

For a specific example: unless LibreOffice or Google Sheets develops a solid equivalent to the Solver add-in, replacing Excel will be a non-starter in any department that deals with Engineering data.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com