Keith Frohnhoefer

There was a time when the term "spreadsheet" simply meant columns of data that were summed up. Although this is all the functionality some people require, Excel has evolved into a much more powerful tool. Users now have the ability to create complex formulas with built-in functions such as MAX, SIN, and SUMIF. They can link workbooks together and not only import data directly from a database, but mirror many database capabilities using VLOOKUP and Pivot Tables. Business administrators can use Excel to automate many of their daily tasks, where they used to require the IT department to develop a database and application. With this additional power, concepts such as primary and foreign keys are no longer foreign to the common worker. Perhaps the reason Web services has not spread like wildfire (as was first expected) is because it has remained in the IT arena. Up until ... (more)