Re: [libreoffice-users] database or spreadsheet

On 07/02/2012 12:47, e-letter wrote:
> On 06/02/2012, Gordon Burgess-Parker<gbplinux@gmail.com>  wrote:
> > You are talking about me.
> > I and many many others have used the same methods of categorising and
> > storing data in Excel, Lotus 123, Multiplan and various other
> > spreadsheet applications for a great many years. It's nothing whatsoever
> > to do with "dispensing with traditional thought processes" at all. It's
> > all to do with EASE of manipulating the data and what you want
> > eventually to do with that data.
> I think the ability to dispense with concepts conceived when
> paper-based accounting was prevalent is required. If decades of using
> a fundamentally wrong method is applied to new tools (e.g. "I did this
> in m$, therefore this process is the only process), the flexibility of
> mind to achieve the same result via a new tool (e.g. relational
> database queries) is never realised.
>
> > The point about spreadsheets is that the user can manipulate and store
> > data in the way that THEY WANT TO and in the way that is most useful to
> > them.
> > There is NO right way or wrong way to do this.
> I think you contradicted yourself, like many m$ fans do: you solved a
> problem using a process that was successful using m$ (I think it was a
> spreadsheet macro). Personally it would be preferable to ask: "I want
> to do X; what is the best tool?" Then knowledgeable users would make
> their suggestions (use calc feature X, base feature Y, etc.) and you
> (and others, don't forget!) would be able to make an informed choice
> of which is most appropriate for each personal preference.
>
> It does not seem apparent that you posted to LO mail-list to ask
> whether there was a better/alternative method (e.g. using a different
> tool such as base) to achieved your desired result: you asked for the
> same process (use a spreadsheet macro) to be applied using calc.
>
> Those m$ users who want LO to be a nothing more than a m$ clone
> (instead of being a fundamentally better product, full stop) should
> make a financial donation.
You completely miss the point just like the others did.
LO is NOT some "wonder tool" that instantly produces a sea change in the 
way in which people use OFFICE applications. (Emphasis on Office - i.e. 
work). Yes LO IS an "MS Office clone" in many many ways.  So is Lotus 
Symphony, so is Lotus Smartsuite.  You could also say that MS Office is 
a "clone" of Lotus Smartsuite etc etc.  All Office suits basically 
borrow and adapt ideas from each other, whether they are proprietary or not.
Office suites are designed so people can do a JOB in the best way that 
SUITS THEM, not necessarily to experiment, neither to bow down to the 
idea that there is a "best" way of doing the job, dictated by someone 
who is an evangelist in a different method of data manipulation and that 
has no insight into the particular user's needs or desires.
I don't know your background, but neither do you know mine. I have used 
almost every single spreadsheet application (with the exception of 
Quattro Pro) to an advanced level in reasonably large quoted 
organisations ever since Multiplan first came out on DOS, so I do NOT 
need you or your evangelistic buddies to tell ME that the way I am doing 
things is wrong.
I would also state that there is not an "MS Office" way of doing things 
nor an "LO" way of doing things either - the only way that is right is 
the way the USER decides they want to do things.

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