Jeff -
My point being, if I was dealing with a raw file input with the schema:
a, hello
b, "HELLO"
c, "goodbye"
I'd be more concerned with why my input is mangled BEFORE I inputted it into Excel or any other app. Blaming Excel for unfollowed input schemas is in fact a specious argument.
We are in total agreement with the summation of your findings when you say:
"Excel is quite a good tool for working with CSV files. Just most people don't understand there is no set specification for what a CSV file is and how it is structured.
If you want everything specified and structures exactly the same everywhere and automatically understands types then don't use CSV. Use XML, it has a standard and a specification and everything is handled consistently"
Excel may not be perfect but, if you give it broken input, expect broken output.