[zamber]

This is an issue with CSV numerical values stored as strings, for numbers it's a bit better. Libraries sometimes allow for a raw import that preserves the internal data type of the format, then you get proper numbers, not adjusted to locale formats.

If you do it for excel it even handles dates pretty well because they're in a numerical format and you can infer that a column is filled with dates because of the range.

The pre-internet conclusion is right. They try to keep backwards compatibility. Also, Excel doesn't handle big data well (1-2M rows) and neither do import libraries (at least in JS land).