2d ago

I Replaced My Entire Work Setup with European Software – Is It Possible?

36 comments

I mean the largest problem in a business sense has always been cooperating with other businesses.
That microsoft excel file your distributor sent you with builtin macros and code that just won't function correctly in libreoffice calc and so on.
It's already a source of friction when university folks in sweden primarily using the google workplace want to coordinate with businesses in sweden that are mostly using microsoft office.
In construction the most common way to coordinate with subtractors is through microsoft teams/sharepoint online, at least here in sweden.
- That seems more like a 90s problem. Who uses Microsoft Office today as a data exchange format?
  
  @taladar
  The world is run on excel spreadsheets.
  @anamethatisnt
  
  In my experience the world is run on CSV (and closely related like TSV), XML and JSON files when it comes to actual data exchange via files (as opposed to direct API usage where XML and JSON also dominate). Only the small minority of people working for companies still using ad-hoc workflows instead of custom software might send excel files instead.
  
  Sure maybe for API and software type things but I've never seen an actual person email an XML or JSON file to another person.
  I have seen XML but XLSX and XML are pretty similar
  
  As I said, companies still using manual processes because they haven't gotten any of their processes turned into custom or off-the-shelf software might do that but that is essentially where most of the industries were in the 90s and now most are on generation 2-3 at least of custom software for their industry or even their company specifically for processes requiring data exchange.
  Many industries also created standardized formats based on XML at some point which is largely why they still use XML, e.g. ONIX in the publishing industry. Entire industries of third party handling for data for certain industries have developed since the times when sending Excel files to each other was common.
  
  You would puke if you knew what kind of workflows if have seen.
  
  Just as many still uses Outlook and email as some sort of FTP service and then whine about reaching their 50GB/100GB M365 mailboxes.
- that's a good thing, those macros are how office documents transmit more viruses than anything else lmfao

36 comments