603: Workin' with iWork

[anon78316750]

@anon20961960

Excel online is free for personal, not corporate use.

Excel Online can be used for corporate use though (and still be free for that matter).

@anon20961960

I have yet to apply for a finance job that asked about my Google Sheets experience though. (Although I have heard of small businesses using it, I have never worked anywhere that didn’t have Office.)

It is often used by educational institutions like schools and universities, not regular businesses.

@anon20961960

As @ChrisUpchurch said though, these crazy huge things you guys are doing, I don’t think a spreadsheet is the best tool for the job.

What would you personally recommend then?

@anon20961960

Especially an online-only one. Web apps suck.

That’s a whole different can of worms that this community could squabble over till the end of time. Let’s just put that to the side for now…

Native FTW!

Photopea is an example of a very good web app: https://www.photopea.com/

@ismh86

Now I’m having flashbacks to learning MS Access in college in like 2005. Yikes.

If I were able to offer you my condolences at the time, I would!

[GraemeS]

@anon78316750

Excel Online can be used for corporate use though (and still be free for that matter).

Only if you are willing to break the terms of the license as far as I can tell; as as in, the free access is only for personal, noncommercial use, unless you have commercial use rights under a separate agreement with Microsoft.

[anon78316750]

@anon20961960

That’s not the way it works, thankfully. I can imagine one company I worked for forcing us to use the online versions so they could save money. Also, there is zero reason to use the online versions. Everyone’s laptop in a corp has Office on it.

If you are running a business under a personal account, you can use Excel Online.

@GraemeS

Only if you are willing to break the terms of the license as far as I can tell; as as in, the free access is only for personal, noncommercial use, unless you have commercial use rights under a separate agreement with Microsoft.

Certain businesses might not be following the terms of the license. If they’re using Excel Online for free after all, what do they have to lose?

[WayneG]

@anon78316750

Certain businesses might not be following the terms of the license. If they’re using Excel Online for free after all, what do they have to lose?

I agree that some businesses may be able to avoid paying for Excel Online and/or other Microsoft products. But once you get on their radar, they will contact you. Many years ago I was purchasing Microsoft products as needed (i.e. standalone copies of Office from BestBuy, Windows user licenses from Dell, etc.), rather than via Volume Licensing. We had been using Linux, OpenOffice, etc but had been gradually increasing our use of MS products.

Then I received a very polite email from Microsoft saying they were going to audit our company. Later I received a very large and complex Excel spreadsheet to fill out, which wouldn’t run on OpenOffice requiring me to purchase a copy of MSO for my computer .

Long story short, the back and forth with MS took 3 months but we passed with flying colors. Which is a good thing, because the fines can be staggering.

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/licensing/learn-more/compliance-verification-faq

https://www.bizjournals.com/bizjournals/how-to/technology/2017/09/how-to-protect-your-company-from-an.html

[GraemeS]

They could lose a law suit for operating illegally I guess. I’m no lawyer, but I do think license agreements should be followed out of principle.

[anon78316750]

@anon20961960

I thought we were arguing about legal uses, not “I can do it, so it must be ok” rules.

This discussion has become diluted over time.