As someone who uses Excel on Windows and Calc on Linux, I can totally understand. There are some big differences so there’s a valid reason for sticking with Excel. Casual users won’t notice anything big, but advanced users will.
On the other hand, if you’re an advanced Excel user, it usually means you’re trying to make it do stuff that it isn’t very good at. If you want stuff that Calc can’t provide, it’s a clear sign you should have written that calculation in R or Python a long time ago.
Don’t you know? Some calculations can only be done locally. They are too complicated to be performed over the cloud. It needs to be done on your i3/4GB RAM PC.
I understand, and agree, with the sentiment that more people should switch to Linux, but please don’t pretend the answer to every topic regarding Microsoft or Windows is “just switch to Linux”. It is for some, but it derails and invalidates a necessary conversation about shitty behaviour by Microsoft.
I have a machine running linux at home, I’m not afraid of a package manager, but Linux is not the answer to everything. Not yet at lesst.
I can’t refuse to use windows at work, and much as i would sometimes like to, I can’t just go and quit over what OS our computers run. That would end poorly for my livelihood and family.
The purpose of this article is to highlight unfair behaviour by Microsoft, especially towards businesses, which is a topic that needs more attention. Microsoft is in every level of infrastructure in almost every big corporation, and no matter how attractive linux is, that doesn’t make the dangers of centralised IT belonging to one company any less relevant.
We should all do more to lobby for more companies and corporations switching to Linux, but replying with “just switch to Linux smh” is not pushing that agenda.
It’s the cost of installing Linux. 🤷
Janette in finance is going to murder whoever tries to give her a FOSS alternative to Excel or forces her to fuck with a VM or web Excel.
We remember the last IT admin that tried to do a platform swap on her. RIP Patrick.
As someone who uses Excel on Windows and Calc on Linux, I can totally understand. There are some big differences so there’s a valid reason for sticking with Excel. Casual users won’t notice anything big, but advanced users will.
On the other hand, if you’re an advanced Excel user, it usually means you’re trying to make it do stuff that it isn’t very good at. If you want stuff that Calc can’t provide, it’s a clear sign you should have written that calculation in R or Python a long time ago.
I think the most infuriating part about web Excel and desktop Excel is that they don’t have feature parity.
There’s stuff that works on desktop but not web and it’s really frustrating.
Don’t you know? Some calculations can only be done locally. They are too complicated to be performed over the cloud. It needs to be done on your i3/4GB RAM PC.
That’s not what this post is about.
I understand, and agree, with the sentiment that more people should switch to Linux, but please don’t pretend the answer to every topic regarding Microsoft or Windows is “just switch to Linux”. It is for some, but it derails and invalidates a necessary conversation about shitty behaviour by Microsoft.
I have a machine running linux at home, I’m not afraid of a package manager, but Linux is not the answer to everything. Not yet at lesst.
I can’t refuse to use windows at work, and much as i would sometimes like to, I can’t just go and quit over what OS our computers run. That would end poorly for my livelihood and family.
The purpose of this article is to highlight unfair behaviour by Microsoft, especially towards businesses, which is a topic that needs more attention. Microsoft is in every level of infrastructure in almost every big corporation, and no matter how attractive linux is, that doesn’t make the dangers of centralised IT belonging to one company any less relevant.
We should all do more to lobby for more companies and corporations switching to Linux, but replying with “just switch to Linux smh” is not pushing that agenda.