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It’s amazing that Microsoft - given their focus on AI and decades of experience in spreadsheets - doesn’t offer this type of functionality. Corporate bureaucrac

It’s amazing that Microsoft - given their focus on AI and decades of experience in spreadsheets - doesn’t offer this type of functionality. Corporate bureaucracy vs startup agility!

mceoin 2y ago
At risk of poking the bear, they should have done this decades ago. Except for LLMs they have had everything they needed to bundle this stack into a single product solution; this would be much better for users. And yes! We're definitely of the opinion that as a startup we can outcompete the two trillion-dollar death stars when it comes to product experience. AI is a platform shift!
luke-stanley 2y ago
Actually Microsoft do now have Copilot and Python in Excel recently released last week. Maybe a bit slow.
- mceoin 2y ago
  Platform wise, the equivalent would be if they combined Excel, PowerBI, Data Factory and Azure into a single tool. Technically you can combine these, but it’s a cumbersome experience and difficult for most people. Vertically integrating their equivalents simplifies things a lot. (Small note: we don’t currently offer Python to users but likely will at some point)
- temac 2y ago
  I dont know if the Python in Excel architecture as changed but last time i saw it, it was insane and unusable for me (data sent to MS servers where a linux container executes python: you need both a subscription and that the data in question not be regulated)
tellarin 2y ago
When I was in there in Microsoft Research, our team was working on related efforts. But, yes, while pieces have shipped into products, MS never released a complete solution at the time. Some links that might be of interest: - Table semantics: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/table-interpretation/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/table-inter... - Entity semantics (video): https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AMIdbT4yVFaw2Kk&cid=A693D94E603A0E4B&id=A693D94E603A0E4B%2117526&parId=root&o=OneUp https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AMIdbT4yVFaw2Kk&cid=A6... - Natural Language in Spreadsheets: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/gridbook/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/gridbook/
- mceoin 2y ago
  Thank you for sharing! Would love to grab a coffee if you're ever in San Francisco. eoin@sourcetable.com

It’s amazing that Microsoft - given their focus on AI and decades of experience in spreadsheets - doesn’t offer this type of functionality. Corporate bureaucracy vs startup agility!

mceoin 2y ago

At risk of poking the bear, they should have done this decades ago. Except for LLMs they have had everything they needed to bundle this stack into a single product solution; this would be much better for users. And yes! We're definitely of the opinion that as a startup we can outcompete the two trillion-dollar death stars when it comes to product experience. AI is a platform shift!

luke-stanley 2y ago

Actually Microsoft do now have Copilot and Python in Excel recently released last week. Maybe a bit slow.

mceoin 2y ago
Platform wise, the equivalent would be if they combined Excel, PowerBI, Data Factory and Azure into a single tool. Technically you can combine these, but it’s a cumbersome experience and difficult for most people. Vertically integrating their equivalents simplifies things a lot. (Small note: we don’t currently offer Python to users but likely will at some point)
temac 2y ago
I dont know if the Python in Excel architecture as changed but last time i saw it, it was insane and unusable for me (data sent to MS servers where a linux container executes python: you need both a subscription and that the data in question not be regulated)

tellarin 2y ago

When I was in there in Microsoft Research, our team was working on related efforts. But, yes, while pieces have shipped into products, MS never released a complete solution at the time. Some links that might be of interest: - Table semantics: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/table-interpretation/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/table-inter... - Entity semantics (video): https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AMIdbT4yVFaw2Kk&cid=A693D94E603A0E4B&id=A693D94E603A0E4B%2117526&parId=root&o=OneUp https://onedrive.live.com/?authkey=%21AMIdbT4yVFaw2Kk&cid=A6... - Natural Language in Spreadsheets: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/gridbook/ https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/research/project/gridbook/

mceoin 2y ago
Thank you for sharing! Would love to grab a coffee if you're ever in San Francisco. eoin@sourcetable.com