The reasons why people use Excel are actually simple and reasonable:
- it's easy to use
- everyone has it
- it maps nicely to the skills user have (like moving files around to copy data)
- it's flexible
The last thing is important here. The problem with most database applications is that they are inflexible. Users are not allowed to add another column just to put a small note next to a data field. Or add a datum that is needed only in exactly three cases and no-one thought of it before yesterday. Or color up some particular entries and have it retained. Or million other different cases. They can't do this stuff on their own, without having to contact IT department or whoever, which makes the feedback loop much longer, seriously impacting productivity.
Yes, Excel sucks. But everything else sucks much harder, from user's point of view. Give them something as flexible as Excel, and they'll gladly switch.
How to give something as flexible as Excel that is not Excel?
I think that they'll gladly switch is a myth. From casual users I never heard "I sent you a spreadsheet", only "I sent you an Excel". And there is no incentive for them to get better educated in this regard.
> How to give something as flexible as Excel that is not Excel?
This is our problem; if we can't, then obviously Excel is the right tool for the job.
> I think that they'll gladly switch is a myth.
Ok, I think you're right. What I meant by "gladly" was more like "they won't be desperately trying to copy the data from the application to Excel and work the old way".
> Athere is no incentive for them to get better educated in this regard.
AKA. they won't change, because they have no reasonable reason too. So why do we (as developers) seem to expect them to?
Well, buried in your comment is the assumption that the alternative must be equally flexible, and I disagree.
Flexibility is often the cause of data loss at these companies, see "sorting a column but not the whole table" case for example.
People hate constraints, but constraints are exactly what we need to maintain data integrity. If convenience is more important, be my guest -- but I'll quit the moment they're asking me to fix an Excel table. (A bit of an exaggeration, but you get the point.)
Yeah, the flexibility is huge. I actually think the cycle of guys in the trenches building an excel workflow, then having developers come in later and create a "real" db backed app as a replacement is not terrible.
It's similar to an anecdote I read from Larry Wall. At some brand new university, they did not make any paths through the quads. Instead they just waited a year, and paved over the dirt paths that had naturally formed.
- it's easy to use
- everyone has it
- it maps nicely to the skills user have (like moving files around to copy data)
- it's flexible
The last thing is important here. The problem with most database applications is that they are inflexible. Users are not allowed to add another column just to put a small note next to a data field. Or add a datum that is needed only in exactly three cases and no-one thought of it before yesterday. Or color up some particular entries and have it retained. Or million other different cases. They can't do this stuff on their own, without having to contact IT department or whoever, which makes the feedback loop much longer, seriously impacting productivity.
Yes, Excel sucks. But everything else sucks much harder, from user's point of view. Give them something as flexible as Excel, and they'll gladly switch.