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Will wikiCalc become a serious rival for Excel?

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6th Dec 2005
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One of Microsoft's worst nightmares appears to be taking shape in a suburb of Boston, where Dan Bricklin, one of the co-creators of the original VisiCalc spreadsheet, is building an open source, online rival to Excel called wikiCalc.

In his spare time as a consultant and speaker on open source software development, Bricklin likes to keep his hand in at programming. In an essay explaining how he embarked on the wikiCalc project, he writes: "I knew there was a need for sharing lists and tables of data online through the web' I wanted a simple standalone product that didn't need someone else's service and that was easy to set up and in any budget. I wanted something a kid's soccer team, small office, or PTA could use'

"Then one day it hit me. What is, reportedly, the most common type of database system for maintaining and sharing simple databases? A spreadsheet. Oh, no! That means that I should implement a spreadsheet as part of the system."

The reason for Bricklin's initial reluctance was that because of his association with VisiCalc, any similar product he developed would be compared to its predecessor.

But with the blessing of VisiCalc co-creator, Bricklin overcame his trepidation and created an "alpha" edition of wikiCalc.

"A spreadsheet is a metaphor that many, many people understand and are comfortable with for creating interesting layouts - probably a lot more than those who know how to do HTML editing with tables," he writes.

"The spreadsheet metaphor with its common functions very explicitly lets you work with a style of table cells that allows you to create and maintain a myriad of layout arrangements appropriate for data presentation. It isn't just a table - it's a two dimensional space on which you can place items wherever you like and where you know how to rearrange things."

The program is conceived as an online authoring and publishing program that can do many common spreadsheet operations such as numeric calculations and sums across ranges, formatting, and copy/paste/insert/fill. It can also handle freeform text and is published through a template similar to many blogging systems. And it's free - Bricklin provides copious instructions on how to download and run the program, accompanied by an open log of bug-fixes and enhancements.

Somewhat ironically, wikiCalc was brought to our attention by Dennis Howlett, who in recent years has styled himself as an anti-spreadsheet crusader. But the potential for interacting online within a spreadsheet (which he poo-pooed a few months back) has captured his imagination as a means for carrying out accounts production work in tandem with web-hosted general ledger applications.

"This is such a great idea I might even recant on my known distaste for most things spreadsheet in finance offices," Howlett commented.

After advising Bricklin how he should develop and adapt the program, Howlett commented: "You don't have to be a geek to understand the opportunity. Those out there in the import/export game for Excel to whatever can kiss goodbye to that business. Developers and VARs should be falling over themselves to integrate this directly into new SaaS [software as a service] offerings. Those looking at alternative ways to deliver information to clients now have a legitimate asset you can adapt and use for competitive advantage."

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Dennis Howlett
By dahowlett
09th Dec 2005 12:29

There's a lot of misunderstanding
Just seen this so I'm a bit late into the conversation here.

First I've not put myself up as a self-"styled [himself as an] anti-spreadsheet crusader." I absolutely don't resent Excel and never have. I merely insist on balance. I'll say it again - in the wrong hands - Excel is deadly. Your esteemed editor already knows that from some of the war stories. And in the wrong hands includes all accountants who don't have the discipline of documenting code.

Second, programming Excel (and what you do each time you build a spread is programming) is a waste of time unless you've got a template you can re-use time and again.

Third - I am allowed to change my mind and this is one such occasion. When I do, it is for considered reasons which are explained.

Onwards...to the real deal.

I ran into Robert Scoble of Microsoft in Paris earlier in the week. He's Microsoft's public mouthpiece but he's also a critic who gets to say what's wrong at Microsoft on his blog.

I then wrote up the meeting here where I pointed out the reasons for my being excited about wikiCalc but conceding parts of what Scoble had to say.

He provided reasonable answers to the issues I raised - which are summed up along with my reflections on the topics raised.

For reporting purposes - and that's the one I'm interested in, wikiCalc 'could' and I haven't said 'will' make an interesting and attractive potential alternative. Lots of reasons and which will be added to over the coming days.

There's a long way to go on this so don't write wikiCalc off yet - even though I realise Excel keeps you guys in beer and gravy and it must be of interest to attract the number of comments and reads!

And before anyone says - "You can't trust company mouthpieces" - I'd agree if it wasn't for the fact that my BS detector didn't go on high alert when I met Scoble. If anything, I found him an engaging person, in exactly the same way I find both Larry Ellison and Scott MacNeally engaging and honest. Ellison and MacNeally can afford to be that way, Scoble is paid for it.

But I'll leave the best 'til last - Ray Ozzie at Microsoft has said the company needs to get into software as a service. He's also said that includes parts of Office - of which Excel is a component.

Who says then that SaaS players don't have an advantage - especially as the new stuff from Microsoft is at least a year away?

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By tomtrainer
09th Dec 2005 16:44

Alastair
I'm sure it will. Thanks.

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By listerramjet
09th Dec 2005 12:07

does this help
http://www.ooomacros.org/user.php

towards the bottom of this page there is a text to columns macro link.

demonstrates the point that openoffice is opensource and a development environment!

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By tomtrainer
09th Dec 2005 11:02

Alastair
Yeah, but was hoping for a shortcut.

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By listerramjet
09th Dec 2005 09:24

hi tom
have you considered the text functions? mid left and right allow you to define portions of a text string, and if you want to get sophisticated then find or its equivalent, and length are also useful.

I would agree that this is not as easy as text to columns, but it is at least potentially as much fun as sudoku!

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By listerramjet
09th Dec 2005 09:30

adding to the last post
over the years excel has added lots of functionality in menu items and in new functions, and of course in wizards such as text to columns, autofilters, and pivots. Of course it is possible to derive the more complex stuff from the simple stuff - this kind of reflects the development route it has taken. the challenge with wikicalc is to work out how to do the complex stuff with a much smaller function set, but the question then is why. Wiki adds something that excel does not have, and if you need that then you need wiki. Open office is similar paradigm to excel but different business model, so the choice is simpler, but the benefit of open office is that it is open source software, so you could produce the functionality yourself!

"pays your money and makes your choice"!

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By tomtrainer
08th Dec 2005 16:26

John
I don't suppose you know if OpenOffice has an Excel "Text to columns" equivalent, do you?

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By tomtrainer
07th Dec 2005 13:53

OpenOffice
As far as replacing Excel goes, aren't you better off with OpenOffice?

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