Swad Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Why do I hate Excel? Maybe it's because I learned to use it back in the gray-on-black-on-gray days of '98 when the interface was gross looking and the things I actually had to insert into the spreadsheets were pretty gross too. Like, numbers. With decimals. That needed formulas. Ick. So while I'm not Apple's target audience with "Charts" I do think it might cure me of my spreadsheet trepidation. ThinkSecret is reporting that Apple will release in January an addition to iWork (at this point the only unibin office suite - another plus) called Charts that is to Excel what Keynote is to Powerpoint. "Long rumored—or at least, assumed—to be in development, sources say Apple is not planning on positioning Charts as a competitor to Microsoft's Excel, but rather as a more consumer-friendly spreadsheet application that can handle the needs of home users and small businesses but not pretend to execute any of the more advanced functions of Excel. Nonetheless, Charts will support importing and exporting Excel formatted documents, as well as legacy AppleWorks spreadsheets, and Apple is hoping the performance of Charts will at least rival that of Excel, sources report. Future users can also expect Charts to sport the same integration with Apple's other applications as current versions of iWork and iLife do. Rumored to be at the top on the list is a built-in media browser, drag-and-drop support of spreadsheet and chart data in new Mail messages, and some level of Address Book interoperability." That's fine by me. Anything to 1) put less money in the hands of Microsoft and 2) put less time into making spreadsheets sounds great to me. And you? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Metrogirl Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 I'm not sure I will be rejoicing with the same enthusiasm as Mash on this one. I actually like Excel after using it for a long time, and each iteration has become more intuitive and intelligent as far as I'm concerned. I accept I'm not a typical 'home user', in fact I have to handle a lot of Excel documents (yes, documents, I'll justify that description in a moment) for my job. My company used to rely on 1-2-3, which was a royal pain compared to Excel, but they switched. I'm not a Microsoft lover, in fact I wish someone else made Excel, but I have to accept that it's an incredibly powerful tool which fulfills all our requirements without too much hassle. When I said 'documents' just now, I meant it - I handle Excel charts, Excel lists, Excel user tests, Excel formatted reports as well as, er, yes, spreadsheets. Within the company the sheer power and flexibility of having templates which absorb lists of numbers and produce an instant report, having checklists which self-validate, having hidden areas which become visible according to conditional statements, well, it's a huge timesaver. The view I take on products like this is similar to the view I take on Photoshop. There are less accomplished, less well-featured products which are easier to use and less likely to produce a huge screwup if you're a novice. But once you learn to use the power and all the techniques which are available, and see how they can really help you in your line of work, you'll find that not much can touch it. I wish Apple luck with 'Charts'. I'm sure it will find a niche with home users and small businesses, and I'm certain it will deliver its functionality with panache and style. I might even use it for simple tasks. But for real jobs (and I have to confess that even simple spreadsheets have a tendency to slowly grow extra features and extensions when I create them), Excel will still be the tool of choice. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Nonny Moose Posted July 6, 2006 Share Posted July 6, 2006 Well, if Charts will be something akin to Keynote, we'll have to wait until the 2.0 release until it'll be better than Excel. I remember Keynote 1.0, and it wasn't until the 2.0 release that it surpassed PowerPoint. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cyrana Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I quite like Excel... However, I'd be fairly happy if it had most Excel features and no VBA (I personally never use that part). Between that and Mellel, I'd be fairly set. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jrrjrr Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I gotta put in a good word for Excel also. It seems to me to be one of the most mature applications around. I use it in more ways and for more diverse things than just about all of the other office-type apps combined. And as Metrogirl said, it does seem to do more and more thinking for you (correctly, even ) on the simple end of its toolset as each new version comes out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Nonny Moose Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I quite like Excel... However, I'd be fairly happy if it had most Excel features and no VBA (I personally never use that part). Between that and Mellel, I'd be fairly set. I do agree. Excel has been quite a joy to use, especially the OS X versions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Swad Posted July 7, 2006 Author Share Posted July 7, 2006 I think it's what you have to do with it that I don't like. If it would design webpages or do aggregate rss feeds for me, I'd probably like it more. I just have math aversion in general... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kernalzero Posted July 7, 2006 Share Posted July 7, 2006 I'll give it a shot, I've been using M$ office for years and have only in the past few months had the chance to play with iwork's keynote and I enjoyed it. Hope the first release isn't all that buggy like first released tend to be Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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