Re:Show HN: From Excel-hell to cloud database heaven in 5 steps
by tryitnow on Friday July 28, 2017 @05:42PM
(#14877820)
Meh. When it comes to spreadsheet hell, the issues are usually human, not technical. It's getting people away from defaulting to spreadsheets as a data source/destination that is the problem. It's a cultural problem that is unlikely to be solved by a technical solution any time soon.
And no, there's no way this happens in 5 steps. Spreadsheet hell usually exists because of poor data management practices and/or lack of understanding. In other words there's some underlying reason people think they need to use spreadsheets instead of other data management tools.
Re:Show HN: From Excel-hell to cloud database heaven in 5 steps
by fragmede on Friday July 28, 2017 @05:21PM
(#14877675)
This looks quite cool! Excel spreadsheets do worryingly much work in industry, and lack even mediocre software industry practices.
It's confusing to me why the article spends so much time describing Excel->CSV translation pitfalls, when the screenshots indicate "Excel" is a supported format. As a developer, I can understand why, but handling those differences internally would make for a much more seamless user experience.
Re:Show HN: From Excel-hell to cloud database heaven in 5 steps
by noodlesUK on Friday July 28, 2017 @08:36PM
(#14878755)
Isn't migrating away from so-called Excel hell exactly the sort of thing a traditional RDBMS is for? It's already tabular data, I feel like MongoDB (the tech behind the platform allegedly) is just adding another layer of confusion for this use case. Don't get me wrong, there are places where NoSQL works great, but spreadsheets aren't one of them.
In no part of heaven does your data go poof and disappear if some 3rd party company goes under.
In no part of heaven is privacy of your data at the mercy of a 3rd party, that doesn't share your interests.
And no, there's no way this happens in 5 steps. Spreadsheet hell usually exists because of poor data management practices and/or lack of understanding. In other words there's some underlying reason people think they need to use spreadsheets instead of other data management tools.
It's confusing to me why the article spends so much time describing Excel->CSV translation pitfalls, when the screenshots indicate "Excel" is a supported format. As a developer, I can understand why, but handling those differences internally would make for a much more seamless user experience.