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Wolfram Alpha and MatLab integration.
Thanks for the suggestion. Can you tell me how you would use such an integration?
It's an interactive programming environment with an interface optimized for data entry and some other things. The difference between Excel and, say, Matlab or R, is excel's strength at data entry, visual/intuitive nature, and total lack of accessible higher-level programming features.
So the ideal solution in this problem space, to me, looks not much like excel at all, but more like a high-powered computation environment a-la mathematica, except with roughly the execution model and visual/accellerated/intuitive interface strength (and then some, as you suggest) of spreadsheets. For example, the whole grid thing might have to go, instead making tables first class objects in the language, and then have a strong visual representation with an accelerated (not plain text) interface for manipulating them.
But maybe you want to take it in a different direction than I do? In any case, excel can trace a pretty direct line to VisiCalc, with very little fundamental reevaluation applied since 1978 or so. So you might want to consider not being bound too closely to the "this is how spreadsheets have always been done" thing.
The use case is to view which specifications are required per functional block in a large system.
There's a terrible habit just about everywhere computers are used to use Excel as a catch-all table generator for whatever grid-like data someone wants to capture (task lists, for example). It's a terrible tool for that - the cell editor is actively hostile to entering text. And frankly, I think the majority of Excel use is for exactly this sort of clunky, awkward crud, not actual spreadsheeting.
Rather than trying to build a better spreadsheet, build a better grid-oriented text capturing device with some spreadsheet functionality.
What I want is for people to stop using spreadsheets for anything but numbers. There's a terrible habit just about everywhere computers are used to use Excel as a catch-all table generator for whatever grid-like data someone wants to capture (task lists, for example). It's a terrible tool for that - the cell editor is actively hostile to entering text. And frankly, I think the majority of Excel use is for exactly thi…
What I want is for people to stop using spreadsheets for anything but numbers. There's a terrible habit just about everywhere computers are used to use Excel as a catch-all table generator for whatever grid-like data someone wants to capture (task lists, for example). It's a terrible tool for that - the cell editor is actively hostile to entering text. And frankly, I think the majority of Excel use is for exactly thi…
You have struck the nail on the head. I have wished for this exact thing - a better grid-oriented text capturing device - so many times. By inverting the focus, you have helped me look at it in a way that might just be the thing I needed. Thank you so much.
ps: Have you used any of 37signals' products? Look to them for UI simplicity. I think there's a real danger in adding too much functionality here.