Excel and Sheets. Is it time for a third alternative ?

Issac Jacob
8 replies
My first memories of any number crunching software was Microsoft Excel. On a very slow Windows XP machine, Excel was the only spreadsheet program anybody needed and it was an overkill even then. The sheer number of features available on excel including the formulas and recently released plugins. Anybody from Hedge Funds to Small Industries used excel to automate a good chunk of their work and proved to be one of the top selling software with the MS Office Suite. Google Sheets was a more anew introduction with the Google Suite, which comes into adoption with the widespread usage of remote working and multiple people collaborating on similar projects. The fact that it's actually a web app that functions seamlessly shows the amount of work put into action. Here comes the problem. Isn't it high time there's a complete redesign of our spreadsheet software and provide customers with a more user-friendly and data intense alternative ? There're some very fundamental tasks that could be converted into a user-friendly version in my opinion. - Basic Data inputs - Categorizing Data - Easy access to third party plugins - Ability to convert tables into diagrams and visual representations Let's Talk ?

Replies

Evan Paul
Google sheets ideally is the next step for simplification with addition of plugins. With last release, UI is seemingly more clean. New adopter simpler UI makes sense, but someone whose bread and butter revolves around using Excel, would find it hard to go back to anything simple. They would prefer to hang on into their ecosystem for the niche it carries. Alternative now, would be hard to even compete with established players. But with advent of Web3 and GenZ mindset, creatively so much can still be explored.
Issac Jacob
@evan_paul True that. Might be a different niche altogether.
Jose Kuttan | Aviyel
What are the options you have seen ?
Issac Jacob
@jose_kuttan_aviyel Zoho Sheets, ApacheCalc ? Any recommends ?
Divya
They work just fine. I prefer Google Sheets
Pavel Kukhnavets
I also thought that there was nothing better than Excel in the whole world ;) The famous Microsoft solution helps to store and analyze data, perform calculations, create templates, generate charts, and serves well in other directions. However, it may seem time-consuming and weak in collaboration. It also provides poor functionality for project management and task control. There are some robust Excel alternatives (https://blog.ganttpro.com/en/exc...) that can boost your productivity and enhance project management and team management efforts. My list of the best substitutes for MS Excel includes: - GanttPRO. - Zoho Sheet. - Apache OpenOffice. - Gnumeric. These tools will help you succeed and win more profit. Compare them and make your choice based on your needs.