gpilling - 3:23 pm on Jun 6, 2006 (gmt 0)

I have had a look at the Google Spreadsheets - and I like it.

The functionality of it is more limited than MS Excel (as expected) but it does have most of the features I use in a daily basis. It does the normal functions like ADD, SUBTRACT, AVERAGE, as well as financial and statistical functions found in Excel.

Some notable differences between Excel and GS is that there is no help in GS. I tried doing a simple PMT calculation and without a little guide as to which number to put in which order, I had to do a little trial and error. For the record it is (interest/12, # of pmts, amount, final balance)

Things that it lacks in comparison - Goal Seek, Pivot Tables, Text to Columns, Conditional formatting - well, I guess I wont be getting rid of Excel just yet. I do think it is a good start, and it will probably meet the needs of most light users. Heavy users are probably switching from Excel to SPSS anyway (my wife uses it, but I can't figure it out)

A major omission is the lack of "drag and fill" functionality. It is not possible to grab a corner of a cell and drag the formula down, or fill a column of numbers, like you can with Excel.

One feature that will be nice for my use, is that I will be able to share documents with my partners in other cities easily, and we will always be on the same version. Currenlty we waste too much time making sure we have the same version, and this will be a help. Besides, I will be able to show them data and not let them change it :)