I have been completely open and honest (as usual) about my contempt for the useless offerings that Microsoft has tried to pass for “Automation” in Excel using JavaScript. Their concept of “Add-Ins” which do little more than allow you to add Web content inside your spreadsheet that interacts with the values in some cells in the file and exposes some inane answer in the Pane (pain?) on the right taking up even more of the screen already grabbed too much by the Effluent UI “Ribbon” at the top…
I have commented many times here, there and everywhere that what is REALLy needed is some kind of true Macro capability for the “Automation” of actual spreadsheets. What a strange idea. Well finally it appears as if someone at Microsoft has come to the same conclusion after years of apparently aimless brain-storming. Excellent !!
Here is a link to my buddy Maarten Van Stam (a genuine Excel MVP btw) that details the recent “coming out” of this technology …
https://maartenvanstam.wordpress.com/2015/09/25/office-js-public-preview-is-here/
and also here is more:
http://dev.office.com/blogs/Office-js-Public-Preview
and especially here:
(this last one you have to get into it until the interview with Rob Howard …)
Rob says some really interesting things … This MIGHT be a big thing but I am seen so many BIG THINGS over the years that have turned to nothing but smoke in the end. But this is different I think … Is this a breakthrough in Microsoft’s approach to Excel? ACTUALLY caring about people who ACTUALLY use the product ?
Hope so..
Dick Moffat's Spreadsheet and BI Blog 
Good post, Dick!
You heard so many BIG things, they now call you Biggus for that 😉
What -I- need is the option to -interact- (exchange content) between client applications, exchange information between Word and Excel for instance. I don’t see that happen soon I’m afraid – but maybe Microsoft will proof me wrong. I certainly hope they do…
Maarten
Did you originally have the link to that interview with Rob in your post? I couldn’t find it now but maybe I didn’t look thoroughly enough 😦 ..
Dick
p.s. I don’t give shit about interaction between apps (just kidding) .. But I don’t consider that first on my list. Frankly I’m going to push hard for Data capability … To drive Tables, Pivot Tables Connections in Excel, PowerQuery (or whatever it’s called now) and especially the PowerPivot Data Store and DAX.
I hope these guys realize what a lot of work this is going to be .. thirty years of incremental things added all having to be redone as quickly as possible. Sorry but anything less is just not acceptable to me .. And now that they’ve announced it they have to deliver — SOONER NOT LATER 😦
I didn’t have the link to the interview in my blogpost, but had it in one of my Tweets…
All podcasts, with the Office JS as most recent one, can be found here:
http://dev.office.com/podcasts
Maarten
Oh .. Thanx .. Musta seen it there …
Have a great weekend .. Hi to Edith and kids … And brother 🙂 ..
Well, as you know my Tweets also automagically appear on FaceBook and Mark Zuckerberg is so helpful to add a nice picture and all to that. Maybe you’ve seen that one 😉
Hi back from Edith … kids are in bed and brother is not here 🙂
What happened to the last blog post about SumIf vs VLookup?
I removed it. It caused some problems with one person who took offence that I eas talking about something other han Puvot Tables …. So I removed it. I don’t think I’m going to blog anymore .. Sorry.