On Thu, 2003-10-16 at 05:21, Gaj Vidmar wrote: > To put it very briefly: I couldn't agree more! > > As I am inclined towards writing too long postings, I shall try to refrain > myself from numerous other arguments in favour of Excel. So just a few notes > (please bare with the style - they're put as unemotionally as possible by an > Excel fanatic).
Hear hear! I'm a consultant who makes a *lot* of money rescuing people from things they tried to do in Excel. If everyone actually tried to use appropriate tools, instead of trying to cram the problem into Excel, then I'd have to pick a less interesting and lucrative line of work. I couldn't agree more; Excel is something everyone should use as often as possible. I've got a mortgage. Ok, removing tongue from cheek. Excel is a great spreadsheet. For problems that are best tackled with a spreadsheet, it's certainly what I use. And spreadsheet literacy is a good thing. Again, for spreadsheet-style problems, it's great. But to re-hash the tired old saying "when your only tool is a hammer...". I really do get a lot of work from very capable professionals who have fallen victim to the notion that Excel is the premier analysis tool. They're not stupid people; they're just lacking in imagination and experience in how to crack hard analytic problems any other way. Jason . . ================================================================= Instructions for joining and leaving this list, remarks about the problem of INAPPROPRIATE MESSAGES, and archives are available at: . http://jse.stat.ncsu.edu/ . =================================================================
