Indeed. Excel gets a lot of (pretty deserved, actually) shit from our industry, but the reality is that Excel does what computers are meant to do: enable users to create sophisticated applications[0] that solve their problems with no coding expertise required, nor kowtowing to some developer, with the option to onramp into adding some code via macros.
Excel is the most widely used programming environment on earth because it is so good at it. That said, I think the fact that we haven't made anything better speaks to the change in philosophy our industry has undergone, from one where we wanted to enable users with computing to one where we want to herd and farm them for money.
[0] yes, both 'sophisticated' and 'application' are defined pretty loosely here.
Excel is the most widely used programming environment on earth because it is so good at it. That said, I think the fact that we haven't made anything better speaks to the change in philosophy our industry has undergone, from one where we wanted to enable users with computing to one where we want to herd and farm them for money.
[0] yes, both 'sophisticated' and 'application' are defined pretty loosely here.