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A comment on I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Upgrade to Windows 11. Parent comment

Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by aleph_minus_one on Thursday October 16, 2025 @02:58AM (#45602213)
> I can't imagine trying to replace MS word with libreoffice for businesses. I respect the project and the complexity of the task, but it's just not there for even light professional use.

Exactly.

Just work in the finance or insurance industry for a year, and you will see how it is part of the daily workflow to use very obscure, advanced Excel feature combined with VBA. If a proposed Microsoft Office alternative cannot handle this, it's not suitable.

I personally observe that a lot of nerds who barely use Excel in their daily workflow patronising that ... (in particular LibreOffice) is an alternative to Microsoft Office. Better first learn how the actual powerusers' workflows (in particular for Excel in the finance and insurance industry) actually look like.

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Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by Ekaros on Thursday October 16, 2025 @03:21AM (#45602356)
Or something like Google sheets. Attempted very basic thing:

1. Got barcode reader and scanned some barcodes from books

2. Looked up these from online API

3. Wrote result in ISBN;Name;Year to output

4. Tried to copy result to Google Sheets

5. No import from custom CSV? (Excel has very good tooling)

6. Actually to split I had to use =SPLIT() and then copy paste results in weird way to actually be able to use first column...

Is this really better? Or good enough...

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by squidbeak on Thursday October 16, 2025 @05:49AM (#45603396)
There's an import function in the File dropdown, with a dialog giving you control over separators. If that fails, you can paste the data, followed by Data > Split text to Columns. I work with CSVs in Google Sheets often and it's pretty reliable.
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Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by tpxl on Thursday October 16, 2025 @04:28AM (#45602836)
> I personally observe that a lot of nerds who barely use Excel

Most people using Excel/Sheets/Word/Docs are not power users. Pretty much all home use is covered by OpenOffice and that is the majority by user count.

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Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by subjectivationx on Thursday October 16, 2025 @08:18AM (#45604436)
Totally agree. I would never use windows at home but Excel at work is the main reason to ever use Windows.

I have Libre Calc installed because I am on mint at home and even if it could do everything excel could do, I don't know how to do things the same way. Neither do most people. The personal experience and network effect is insurmountable for other software.

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Re:I'm recomming my customers switch to Linux rather that Up... by account42 on Thursday October 16, 2025 @08:31AM (#45604547)
You can either complain about how Microsoft is treating or you can keep making excuses and add on requirements until there is no alternative but if you keep doing both you deserve whatever you get.
[ Parent | on HN ]