I think the point of the parent comment was not about software being free but by being able, quote, "to program[...] your way out of it". Which I think is an important argument for or against Excel (or many other programs) depending on whether we talk about programming users or non-programming users.

Right. But probably I was just lucky enough never to encounter such kind of corporate world which uses Excel (or any other spread sheet software for that matter) in such weird fashion.