"As intended" is a suggestion, not reality. Physical reality doesn't have XML tags attached to things, saying "this is a hammer, you shall use it to drive small nails, and small nails only". The same thing applies to software. There are tools more and less convenient for a task, but ultimately it's the task that matters.
Consider invoices: before computers, they were done on the ultimate universal medium - paper. Even today, they exist as documents primarily meant to be read by humans. They have some required information and vague shape they're supposed to resemble, but that's it. It's much faster to make one with Excel than with InDesign, doubly so if you already know Excel. The part that Excel doesn't support - invoice life-cycle management - can be done elsewhere (file system is damn good at it), and often isn't even a part of the task - that aspect is handled by the accountants you CC when sending out an invoice.
Excel is really a kind of smart virtual paper with affinity for grids. People use it for a lot of weird things because it usually works damn well for those.
"As intended" is a suggestion, not reality. Physical reality doesn't have XML tags attached to things, saying "this is a hammer, you shall use it to drive small nails, and small nails only". The same thing applies to software. There are tools more and less convenient for a task, but ultimately it's the task that matters.
Consider invoices: before computers, they were done on the ultimate universal medium - paper. Even today, they exist as documents primarily meant to be read by humans. They have some required information and vague shape they're supposed to resemble, but that's it. It's much faster to make one with Excel than with InDesign, doubly so if you already know Excel. The part that Excel doesn't support - invoice life-cycle management - can be done elsewhere (file system is damn good at it), and often isn't even a part of the task - that aspect is handled by the accountants you CC when sending out an invoice.
Excel is really a kind of smart virtual paper with affinity for grids. People use it for a lot of weird things because it usually works damn well for those.