• trickylens
    a year ago

    I don't hate spreadsheets. They are a very useful tool. I use one occasionally (but less so now I've moved my football admin to a database). I strongly dislike when they are used for things they are not well suited for, when they are very large, and when they are shared and used for collaborative tasks. Because in those scenarios they are not often the best tool for the job.

    Something like grist is a better collaborative solution (create the data model using grist-electron, then roll out to a self-hosted instance for collaboration). But people know how to use spreadsheets, so every screw is a nail to their hammer, and they often end up bloated, slow, hard to maintain share and version, and full of errors or the potential for them.

  • Russpanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    Ah. I will grant you that spreadsheets are often used for purposes that would be better served by a different tool. See also Powerpoint and its analogs.

    I am guilty of both of these offences on a regular basis.

  • JRs_Cigarettepanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    Sometimes if you just want to add a couple of numbers together an old fashioned calculator will do the job. But increasingly that is beneath most people.

  • JimShadypanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    Who's got a calculator anymore?

  • trickylens
    a year ago

    Almost everyone, on their phone?

  • JRs_Cigarettepanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    One on my desk at home and at work.

  • Ingopanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    Me also.

  • noodlehelp_outline
    a year ago

    Same. And proper big button fuckers too.. like every good fat-handed bean-masher.

  • Ingopanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    Does my stance on this give me acceptance by the accountancy community?

  • Lessredpanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    Let's not go mad.

  • Ingopanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    Is that the Accountancy Christmas Party tag line?

  • Charliepanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    Visiting my accountant later. Will check for calculators and report back.

  • Ingopanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    Our accountant is from Southwell and is basically Daddy Pig personified.

  • Simonhelp_outline
    a year ago

    So here's a thing. I tried that and some experimentation has determined that whichever spreadsheet am I in, excel always puts the screengrap in the other one.

    This may, of course, be because I'm forced to use a macbook.

  • Jakepanorama_fish_eye
    a year ago

    The problem with databases is that they rely on spreadsheets to import and export data, and then if you want to do anything with the data extracted you're using spreadsheets then uploading a spreadsheet to the database again.

    Also, us teachers are crap with databases.

  • trickylens
    a year ago

    No.

    Nope.

    Affirmative.

    People are used to using spreadsheets. Spreadsheets work. If you always use a spreadsheet, you will only know how to do things with spreadsheets.

    If I want to quickly analyse a set of data, I'm going to use a spreadsheet. If I need to collect and manage large sets of data collaboratively, and periodically analyse elements of it I'm going to use a database (maybe using a spreadsheet an analysis tool). Spreadsheets can do all of this, so it's easier to use one (and only one personal skill set), but with large sets of data, that needs sharing and versioning, you will run into problems with spreadsheets (even if it's only the logistics of managing independent edits of 'current' versions).

    If you want to see what modern database tools, designed to replace the use of spreadsheets (where they are sub-optimal), you can do worse than look at grist, and specifically grist-electron as a stand alone application.

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