Google Docs is not worse. LibreOffice is sometimes worse for the reason already mentioned -- companies can't switch to it when they're locked in, but user base is the source of resources for improvement via support contracts, donations and code contributions.
> It's certainly worse" than than the desktop office apps for some use cases.
You can add "for some use cases" and make the sentence true about any product in comparison to any other product. That's not what makes something great.
> Which might end up being effectively more expensive than paying for MS Office licenses
You're now comparing two entirely different things. With a support contract you get support. It's something different than the product itself with independent additional value.
> You're now comparing two entirely different things. With a support contract you get support
I was thinking about you needing to pay someone to add new features/fix bugs or just help you to reimplement the workflows which you already have on Excel.
> any product in comparison to any other product. That's not what makes something great
I was thinking about many common workflows and general "power user" stuff that's very important for many professional users.
It's like saying that Apple Numbers is not "inferior" to Excel/Sheets because it's a different product and that it's perfectly sufficient (maybe even superior) for certain workflows, however that doesn't change the fact that it's objectively inferior from the perspective of significant proportion of people who are working with spreadsheets.
