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[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 45 points 6 days ago

but then Google Docs took them apart

Tapping the breaks on that one.

Google Docs is very lightweight, but it's also very stripped down. Word remains the first choice in word processors for 90% of the market. It (and Excel) are a big reason offices haven't seriously begun abandoning Microsoft.

[-] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 1 points 2 days ago

Not being able to paste a jpg of a screenshot into an Excel sheet embedded in a Word document is a feature.

I posit that the vast majority of users of Office would be just fine with any of the lightweight web app equivalents.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago

I think we'll eventually see folks migrate to Jupiter Notebook style data entry and management. But they're relatively new and not well-integrated into modern workflows.

For the time being, people are brought into offices and trained on Excel, get comfortable with Excel, and continue to use Excel because that's how they spend the bulk of their hours. You've got networking effect and priors cementing these apps as the go-to for an entire generation.

[-] deadbeef79000@lemmy.nz 2 points 1 day ago

100%

Excel is the one actual critical application because it deals with data (and formulae), data which is only useful when you maintain its integrity (hopefully you're not storing dates).

Word is just a shitty application for text. Needs that can usually be adequately addressed by a plain text file (or plain text email). It thinks it's a desktop publishing application (goodbye MS Publisher). Any tool that can do rudimentary text processing will suffice for the vast majority of use cases. One might have footnotes and some meta data that might be important, other apps do that well. Even markdown can do that.

PowerPoint, likewise, is a shitty slide show application. Any equivalent will suffice.

There's quite a few other apps, I forget those.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

Word is just a shitty application for text.

It's fine. People love to shit on the app because Microsoft Bad. But it's living at the rough midpoint of application quality, at least in it's modern incarnation.

PowerPoint, likewise, is a shitty slide show application.

As a slideshow app, it's another perfectly fine piece of software.

What's disgusting about PowerPoint isn't the app but the LinkedIn psychos who use it

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 6 points 5 days ago* (last edited 5 days ago)

I don't think that's the case, but I only have anecdotal evidence for that. I haven't ever worked at a company where Office was the preference, and the last three I've worked at didn't even offer it as a default. And I'm in my forties.

[-] UnderpantsWeevil@lemmy.world 20 points 5 days ago

I haven’t ever worked at a company where Office was the preference,

I haven't worked at an office where it wasn't. And I've done years of consulting at Deloitte, so I've seen a few places.

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago

Fair, which is why anecdote isn't the singular of data I guess.

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 7 points 5 days ago

Many govt agencies around the world pay for Office 365 or similars. Where I work (govt health), some higher ups demand pro-level M$ office accounts. Those ain't cheap.

I suspect the vast majority of USA govt (state and federal), plus many European govts, pay a fortune for Office

[-] RampantParanoia2365@lemmy.world 2 points 4 days ago

I'd never use Google Docs for any long-form writing. I wouldn't even trust the online nature of it, not having the file stored locally.

[-] firelizzard@programming.dev 2 points 5 days ago

Virtually every company I’ve worked at used Office primarily. And by the looks of the other comments your experience seems to be atypical.

[-] ilinamorato@lemmy.world 2 points 5 days ago
[-] zarkanian@sh.itjust.works 5 points 5 days ago

Tapping the breaks on that one.

You don't wanna do that. The whole thing could shatter!

this post was submitted on 18 May 2026
975 points (98.5% liked)

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