Why my blog changed…

Despite not posting since the beginning of the year my traffic has actually gone up every month since.  Interesting.. Thanx for your interest.

So why have I not been posting ?  It’s kind of based on the old saying that “If you can’t say something nice don’t say nothing at all”. Perhaps the change in name of this blog explains everything.

Simply put, I believe that Microsoft has finally come up with a great way to get rid of the bad smell that is Microsoft Access.  The changes in Access 2013 and their continued complete denial of any future for Access as a client-side tool for use with SQL Server means that maybe it’s time to move on.  In addition it is getting harder and harder to get approval to use SQL Server for our solutions anyway as DBA’s work very hard to keep us out.

Access is now offically an end-user app and good luck to them on that.  But the complete lack of any interest on their part in developers, and in the Client-Server capabiliies of the product that works so well for us, means that finally they will be able to get rid of that pesky product that doesn’t fit anywhere in Microsoft’s grand scheme of a VBScript run HTML5, SQL Azure world.  Let’s not kid ourselves anymore.

On the other hand the new version of Excel 2013 is a DREAM  !!!

Finally the Excel Team has pushed the product to a level where not only does it become a serious player in the BI “space”, but it should finally drive traditional spreadsheet developers to learn how “data” really works, where it lives, and how they need to rethink their use of Excel to a great new advantage.  But wait… Microsoft has come up with several cool ways to prevent that from happening….

1. The “official” developer story for Excel 2013 is focused on the ability to automate spreadsheets using  the domain of “Professional Developers” using Visual Studio.  The day of the VBA macro-driven spreadsheet is over even before it really got a chance to mature IMHO.  I remember saying publicly that while VBA was definitely more powerful than Lotus 1-2-3 macros, VBA was actually probably over-kill (I still think XLM macros were pretty cool ) .  In the end VBA’s complexity has lead to less and less spreadsheet automation, as I predicted all those years ago.  I have not seen anywhere the growth in automated Excel solutions overall despite the growth in the number of people with Excel on their desktops since that time.  I remember ten years ago sitting in a meeting in Redmond and hearing the biggest name in Office development say “There are no Office Developers anymore.” But I was there.  I wish I’d listened to him then frankly.

Now if we are driven to using VBScript and automating the product through VS and focus on publishing those brain-dead Office Web solutions, the only people who will be able to automate Excel will be people who actually hate Excel and have no interest in doing so at all (nor any appreciation or experience in actually developing Excel spreadsheets).  Yet another good move Microsoft.

2. Excel 2013 is the first openly “Data-Centric” version of Excel.  Oh sure there’s always been data capabilities in the product, but this is the first version where the entire new capability of the version is driven toward data-centric spreadsheets and away from the “traditional” spreadsheet paradigm.

Ironically, probably because of the fact that most of this new technology has come from the SQL Server Team at Microsoft, the main focus for promotion and testing of the new cersion of Excel has been through the SQL Server BI MDX “gurus”, a small group of mostly men around the world who have only one interest – and that is promoting themselves and keeping everything so complex and out of reach that they can get ALL the business.

3. Last year I wrote a letter to Microsoft telling them how excited I was about the data capabilites in Excel 2013 and  suggesting that if they really want to get people that actually USE this new capability they should be going out and promoting the new Data-Centric design realities of Excel 2013.  My theory was that this market is HUGE and many, many times the size of the BI “guru” class.   If they were to promote this to the long-time, long-suffering Excel poweruser the concepts, joys and productivity gained by understanding how to properly use “data”, how to get to that data and how they need to have an entirely new paradygm for spreadsheet design they would be a HUGE success and mre impritantly for them they would lock people into Excel forever.  I also pointed out that without this, all their efforts in PowerPivot, PowerView and SharePoint will be for naught but that I would be willing to help them turn it around ….

Cue the sound of crickets now …

4. This means that large parts of the Business World are going to continue to be run for the near future on badly designed, inefficient, downright dangerous user-designed and usually non-supported, crappy spreadsheets.

We who understand and really appreciate the way to build good spreadsheets that are first and foremost spreadsheets and that now will allow us to even better integrate corporate data into them will be able to scrape by and hopefully some of you will finally be able to move out of your parents’ basement (just kidding on that one).

Excel 2013 is exciting despite the fact that we will still have to function as “Lone Wolves” out there as the big consulting firms will continue to cut us out at every turn with their promises of Nirvana.  Wow, if I could only get a fraction of the money I have seen spent on these failed boon-doggles that replaced my good work over the years I’d be able to retire now and you would definitely not be reading this .

So away we go … Lots of exciting new Excel BI technology for us to tinker with. Too bad that most of us actually fall in the category of “believers” who really like doing Excel and really understand the value it CAN provide to companies.  Yet in actual fact we should all go do something else I’m afraid.

Feel free to post here or to reach out to me privately at dick@plogic.ca .  I will keep any direct correspondence strictly private.

Dick

2011 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2011 annual report for this blog.

I REALLY appreciate their effort and the quality of their hosting offering.  Thank you WordPress…  Below is their cool little summary of my site activity in 2011.  Interesting stuff.

And thank all of YOU for visiting my site.  You have no idea how good it feels to have so many of you see the value of what I have to say and especially you guys who posted so many times.  Please don’t be shy.  I can see how many came, and that’s great, but your thoughts are interesting to me.

2012 is going to be an interesting year for us all.  Office 15 (2013?) hitting the market in the Fall would be my guess and it’ll be interesting mostly to see how Microsoft positions it.  I believe it is time for Microsoft to get out and show people how to use this stuff rather than just hoping they figure it out on their own.  I don’t expect them to do anything though and if so I think we will continue to see Excel and Access lose altitude.  I don’t think it’s enough to just hope that people “get it”.

So despite a lot of cool new features and some BIG surprises, that I can’t talk about, I predict more of the same as we “believers” fight the fight for Excel and Access on our own with little or no help from above.  We all have to ask ourselves whether it’s worth it and each will have to draw their own conclusions.

It’ll be interesting, but let’s keep in touch as it all happens.

Dick

 

Here’s an excerpt:

The concert hall at the Syndey Opera House holds 2,700 people. This blog was viewed about 29,000 times in 2011. If it were a concert at Sydney Opera House, it would take about 11 sold-out performances for that many people to see it.

Click here to see the complete report.

An Interesting (?) Revelation From Working At Home

I know this is slight OT but maybe not totally.

A lot of us work at home right?  Also many of us have dogs (like you Mark in SevenOaks) and because we work at home our dogs are with us all day.  I have definitively proven that my Labrador Bella has learned not only to come to me and ask to be let out or walked AFTER I finish a phone call (every time) BUT she actually comes to me as I’m wrapping up the call (??).

In other words, something in how I close out conversations (tone or certain words or phrases) makes her realize that I am ALMOST  done talking and she should come to me and ask for my attention at that point.  That’s amazing to me !

This is only 1 of my 2 dogs BTW ..  her sister Mae, (also a Lab), is oblivious ).

There’s no question that our dogs (well the smarter ones) are really in tune with us and that is cool to me…

Dick

p.s. Can you guess which one’s the one I’m talking about?  Pretty easy isn’t it

The Court Jester Gets It!

Haven’t posted in a while because I am outrageously busy with personal and business things. Sorry.

But one thing that’s making all the work a lot harder is all the f***ing PASSWORDS I have to remember over and over !!

Every system or network I log into has different rules for passwords and different expiry dates and I am getting stumped regularly trying to keep all of them organized.  I am as I write this on hold with a guy in India trying to get my password for the internal MS Time Management system.  I have to log in twice with 2 different logins to get stumped on yet another dialog !!  The guy has now put me on hold…

Here is my favourite Dilbert on this topic:

http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Squirrel%20Noises

Why is Scott Adams the only person who speaks up on these annoying tech issues?  It reminds me of how Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert seem to be the only people who clearly see the absurdity of American politics. Where would we be without the Court Jesters?  Where are we going when the only ones who see the truth and speak up ARE the Court Jesters?

Dick

Excel Goes Gangsta (?)

As a Grandfatherly Canuck I am somewhat ignorant of the “Gangsta” reality in the US of A but on this week’s wonderful visit to the Collie’s in Cleveland I was pressed into displaying my complete and utter uncoolness (while watching Rob Collie’s wife Jocelyn playing hockey – and yelling “Shoot the puck !!” and “Keep your stick on the ice !!”.  Rob has just posted about this and exposed the picture here:

http://www.powerpivotpro.com/2011/12/friday-bonus-excel-goes-gangsta/

The reference to Wilford Brimley is a bit sobering but tragically accurate …

Thanx Rob and Jocelyn for you great hospitality and your sweet dawgs.

Dick

 

UK Excel User Conference

My pal Simon Murphy, aka Smurf, is hosting another Excel User Conference in January in London on Wednesday, Jan 25th, 2012.

Here is a link to info on this session.  I think if you’re in the London area and you care about Excel you will  not be disappointed with the kind of stuff Simon and his presenters will show you.  I hope to be able to be there myself if things work out.

http://xlconf.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/uk-excel-developer-conference-date-and-location

Dick

Data Access IS The Problem

I have harped on this here before, but once again my blood-pressure is rising because I have seen a simple, efficient use of the powers of Excel marginalized by a client’s inability to get support and cooperation from the “Gate-Keepers” (“Crypt-Keepers” ?)  of corporate data stores.

The Gate-Keepers are often corporate DBA’s who are deathly afraid that users might hurt themselves if they actually get the data they need to help them analyze performance and plan their business futures (even though they are already doing it mostly in “crappy”, dangerous, silos of user-designed and maintained spreadsheets already anyway).  The rest are the makers of third-party accounting or BI software who’s sole motivation is simply to get total control of the data and the process so the business is forced to keep paying them forever and ever …

By forcing BDMs to flail along with stand-alone spreadsheets without direct or reliable integration with REAL corporate FACTS they are exposing the business to risks that may or may not be large.  Regardless, these processes are inefficient at best and frustrating to users and their bosses no end.  The efforts to eliminate spreadsheets altogether (which is the unspoken goal of most IT “Professionals” anyway)  simply has not and will not work.  That is unless they can succeed in moving everyone to the browser-based “calculators” being offered as Excel alternatives by Google and even Microsoft and eliminate the powerful Office Client Excel that has so much power and capability.  That would be unconscionably stupid.

In the case that has me worked up today it is data being collected by a 3rd party software provider who takes simple, straightforward collected data and presents it to the user in an awkward, complex and generally useless GUI in a browser that takes otherwise logical and straight-forward data and makes the export of the data to Excel a painful, inefficient, and in the end unusable, process – thus making use of their data outside of their interface (which they will sell the client and reporting module BTW ) impossible.

I have run into this in the BI “Universe” as well where at one client we have been trying to get the data we need for a critical business analysis tool in Excel for TWO YEARS to no avail.  I have found more and more cases where DBA’s will simply not allow departmental users or developers access to the very data they need to run their businesses while it’s being collected and collected but is being used for absolutely nothing.

To me the efforts made by DBA’s and 3rd Party software developers to prevent the effective import of corporate data into Excel is a major impediment to Corporations.  Tragically these Corporations don’t even realize it’s true or how much inefficiency and extra cost they are accepting as normal.  BDM’s as a rule defer to the “Professionals” in their IT brain’s trust or worse they are afraid to cross IT (like you might not to complain to the Police for fear of repercusiions).   It is truly a tragedy.

We should all remember that it is THE BUSINESS that matters, not the careers of the IT “professionals”.  And we are supposed to be working at using technology to make business processes better and more flexible not less.  We are servants to the Business not the other way around and whenever that gets forgotten we all lose.

Dick