I only need simple excel and mostly rely on word processing so I’ve never actually known what exactly ms excel has that libre doesn’t

Is it like actual macro/coding capabilities within excel or just convenience/file compatibility stuff?

For personal use, Libre office does everything I need. For work, Excel is an absolute beast. It doesn’t necessarily scale, but for those one off data comparison, manipulation, or validation often I can do it faster and easier than I can in SQL. VLookup was kinda cool. Index match is definitely powerful.

I still generally avoid the vb macros though I’ve found solutions online occasionally where they’re useful. (Reviewing the code to confirm it’s not malicious first of course.).

Fair, I still use Office 2007 via Wine. Even the newest one has the killer features (unless it's the awful web version) but your willingness to use it depends on how strong your aversion towards proprietary OSs and AI is

Since Google sheets came around I've always found freaking with excel more of a headache so I've not touched it for a loooong time. Only the reader version when someone sends me an xlsx in an email

Legit had somebody angry with me at work because their copilot button wasn't showing in Outlook... Like what? If you can't even write your own emails why are you even employed? "What would you say... You do here?"

Microsoft 365 Copilot App

Oh, you're right. Without "App" though, that slipped through because someone wrote "the Microsoft 365 Copilot app" (a string you'll see in official MS texts) in title case.

For the desktop app that only opens links to the webapp versions of Office

They did not fucking rename Microsoft Office. It's dumb enough without everyone uncritically parroting the misleading clickbait.

Why in the fuck was there even a desktop app to just open the webapp links? That's dumb as shit! Why the fuck would anyone care about it enough to rename it? That's even dumber! Why would...

You get the picture.

The reality isn't as bad, while simultaneously being even more dumb.

Edit: Since there's nothing that goes together quite like Linux enthusiasts and pedanticness, here's a correction-

Microsoft split off a subscription based version of their Office suite of programs a number of years ago, calling it Microsoft Office 365. They maintained more standard non-subscription versions for a few years alongside 365, while very clearly trying to push people to the subscription model.

After that, they stopped releasing new standard versions, leaving Microsoft Office 365 (the subscription) as the only option for ongoing support.

After that after that, they renamed Microsoft Office 365 to just Microsoft 365, although the Office branding/tagline/wording is still present in a number of places (just not on office.com itself, apparently).

One of the 365 license options allows for access to only the webapp versions of the suite instead of the native program versions. Apparently they offered a "Microsoft Office App" specifically for users on this license that would simply link to the webapp versions of the suite.

This "Microsoft Office App" that served as a link to the webapps is what has been renamed to Copilot whatever the fuck, not the suite of webapps and native programs themselves. That remains named Microsoft (Office) 365.

Microsoft's original and horribly misleading blog post that started this shit here.

The Verge's article laying things out more clearly and featuring direct statements from an M$ exec to The Verge trying to clarify things here.

You're right: strange how they keep shoving things nobody wants in the name of their product - first "Office" became "Microsoft 365" (subscription-only), then "with Copilot" (opt-out upsell) and now the mandatory Copilot upsell.

The silver lining is, small and medium-sized companies are increasingly ditching the pricey offering for employees who don't have document editing a major part of their duties, making them realize LibreOffice is now good enough for their personal needs.

"Office" is completely removed from https://www.office.com/ The only place "Office" can still be found is in the urls. It's called "Microsoft 365" now.

Edit: My mistake, "Office Home 2024" is still a thing you can buy apparently, but it's not the full package. I'm pretty sure Libreoffice is a full replacement for "Office Home"

I haven't used spreadsheet software in decades, but I have helped some convert to Windows to Linux. Some of them did use Excel, and therefore had to learn to use LibreOffice Calc, and while they had some expected difficulties during the initial learning curve, they did say a few months later to me that they were eventually satisfied with the software.

Nevertheless, I'm sure much like the GIMP/Photoshop comparison, Excel simply has features that Calc doesn't.

I am mildly curious. Could you give an example of a feature that its likely many businesses and/or individuals use in Excel that simply doesn't exist in, or is too difficult to implement in Calc?

I would imagine the vast majority of Excel written everywhere uses very basic features.

Not necessarily. It's often less Calc's capability that is at issue, and moreso its compatibility with imported sheets. Calc tends to have every feature I need when I make a spreadsheet.