Spreadsheets are poorly structured. Different entries in the same column can have different data types. There is no concept of a superkey, so duplicates are allowed. There is a concept of ordering by row/column number which does not necessarily exist in a DBMS. Querying facilities are generally poor.
Now you can kinda fix this by restricing the type of column, etc. but most people don't bother
They are good at what they do - quick manipulation of relatively small datasets. WYSIWYG printouts with decent formatting and charts. But they are only a "database" in the same way that say, a bunch of random data is.
For a quick 30-second explanation of what a "databases" and "schemas" even are in the first place for non-technical people, it's more than "good enough", and spreadsheets are the most common example that people are generally already familiar with. Unique keys, typing, etc. really isn't relevant here, especially not in the context of what the court case is about. The important bit to get across is that it's a 2D table with rows and columns, and that's all there is to it (that is: it doesn't include the source code to query it).
Excel sheets are databases. That's their purpose. They store rows/cols like an RDBMS. They allow joins and constraints, including uniqueness. There are even backends that use a spreadsheet as a DB. What else do you want?
Spreadsheets are poorly structured. Different entries in the same column can have different data types. There is no concept of a superkey, so duplicates are allowed. There is a concept of ordering by row/column number which does not necessarily exist in a DBMS. Querying facilities are generally poor.
Now you can kinda fix this by restricing the type of column, etc. but most people don't bother
They are good at what they do - quick manipulation of relatively small datasets. WYSIWYG printouts with decent formatting and charts. But they are only a "database" in the same way that say, a bunch of random data is.
For a quick 30-second explanation of what a "databases" and "schemas" even are in the first place for non-technical people, it's more than "good enough", and spreadsheets are the most common example that people are generally already familiar with. Unique keys, typing, etc. really isn't relevant here, especially not in the context of what the court case is about. The important bit to get across is that it's a 2D table with rows and columns, and that's all there is to it (that is: it doesn't include the source code to query it).
Excel sheets are databases. That's their purpose. They store rows/cols like an RDBMS. They allow joins and constraints, including uniqueness. There are even backends that use a spreadsheet as a DB. What else do you want?