A perfect comparison of spreadsheets is impossible,: different people have different requirement. This is how they have worked for me over years (I am getting old enough to say decades) of usage ranging from large spreadsheets I did as an analyst, to small sheets for personal finance purposes.
I regard using scripting/macros within spreadsheets as something to be avoided (if you have something that need programming to do, use a proper programming language, it will be easier in the long run). In fact there are few things that you really cannot do with formulae, and spreadsheets using only formulae are far easier to maintain. Macros have also been used by virus writers and allowing then to run is a security risk. I also regard using spreadsheets as improvised databases as a bad idea.
I am also very keen on my spreadsheets being stored in an open format. An open format will guarantee that I will always be able to import the data into other software. This may not even mean another spreadsheet: it could be a database, or a program that will reformat it for display on a website, etc. At the moment this means Open Document Format (ODF). It is an official ISO standard and it has already been implemented by multiple software vendors.
Microsoft Excel
Most people's default choice but not necessarily the best. Many people use it because they are under the impression that they need it to open spreadsheets in Excel format, but I have never had a problem opening that format with any of the other spreadsheet packages here, except occasionally with some macros.Excel's strengths are its graphing (which is superb), the wide range of plugins and integration with other software (for example, if you run excel on a Bloomberg, you can import live market data). For several years it has been the most familiar spreadsheet for most people, but with a new user interface in the new version, it now looks less familiar to many than most other: Openoffice in particular.
Excels biggest weakness is the lack of support for an open format. Although Microsoft is pushing its new office format (OOXML) as a standard, however OOXML appears to be over-complex, badly documented, and difficult to implement: so much so that even Microsoft is reluctant to make a long term commitment to support it. There is an ODF plugin for Excel, but it is not a standard part of the software.
MS Office in general is rather bloated and uses lots of resources. This makes it slower to start up and it uses up a lot of memory. It also lacks some useful features — for example, it is the only one of these spreadsheets that does not have built in export to PDF.
OpenOffice Calc
This is my current favourite. The Openoffice suite is officially called "Openoffice.org" for trademark reasons. Sun sells a variant of it as Staroffice. The spreadsheet is rather unimaginatively called Calc.Openoffice uses ODF by default. It offers very similar capabilities to Excel and a high degree of compatibility. It can open Excel files and the latest versions can even run Excel macros.
Its features and user interface are very similar to Excel. It is worse at graphing. I have not tried using it to handle large amounts of data (i.e. as a de facto database)
The default configuration is a bloated, but this can be significantly improved by some minor configuration changes.
Gnumeric
I used to user Gnumeric very heavily. It is fast, starts up quickly, and has some nice features. However, once I bought a faster PC, its speed mattered less. It looks likely to be slow to adopt ODF.Gnumeric is probably the most reliable spreadsheet. When researches founds bugs that caused statistics formulae in both Excel and Gnumeric, Microsoft did not bother to fix the bugs, whereas Gnumeric's developer's did. Further testing showed it to be very accurate, and the developers continue to improve on this.
Gnumeric's weakness is lack of documentation. One of my favourite features was a modelling function that allowed me to easily to do simple Monte-Carlo modelling. I now cannot work out how to do this, and no amount of looking at the on-line manual helped.
Gnumeric is a great choice for those who want speed and simplicity, or reliable stats formulae. Otherwise there are better options.
Lotus Symphony Spreadsheet
Lotus 1-2-3 had a long history, and was the second major spreadsheet to be launched after the now defunct Visicalc. However the latest version of Lotus Symphony is little more than Openoffice with a beautiful user interface. However, the beautiful user interface is very slow. If you really like the ways it works, and have a fast PC, its fine. Otherwise Openoffice is preferable.Koffice
Much as I like KDE, I have to admit that Kspread is the worst spreadsheet here. Lots of functionality is missing. It is worth installing for KDE users because it allows quick previews of spreadsheets from the KDE file manager, Konqueror. I would not use it for anything else. Kspread has moved to ODF, and is improving rapidly, so it is likely to be worth looking at again.Kspread shares with Excel the distinction of not being cross-platform: Excel runs only on Microsoft Windows or MacOS (short of using Wine), Kspread only runs on Linux or Unix. New versions should be cross-platform.
Google Docs
Firstly, thanks to Richard Beddard for getting me to try Google Docs, and for pointing out some of its features.Google Docs key strengths are obvious. It is accessible from anywhere, and you can collaborate on a spreadsheet with anyone, anywhere with a Google login. It can also insert information from certain Google searches into a spreadsheet. Even better, some financial markets information is available as well. So the typing =GoogleFinance("GSK.L"; "price") into a cell will make that cell have the value of the current Glaxosmithkline share price in London. It will update automatically.
Other than that it provides a similar functionality to an lightweight spreadsheet, with import of Excel and ODF formats, and export of both as well as PDF and CSV. It tends to feel a little unresponsive, but that is the trade-off for running in a browser. Brilliant for collaboration and ability to insert securities prices by formula, otherwise desktop software comes out ahead.
Conclusion
Overall my preferred option is Open Office, cross-platform with ODF and PDF support and reliable reading an writing of Excel and other formats (in fact is is reputed to open files from older versions of Excel better than Excel itself). I would love Gnumeric to have better documentation and for Kspread to mature, but that will take time. I would also love Excel to gain ODF support by default and run cross-platform (and I would love to see a flying pig...).I will write up a comparison of word-processors and document-processors at sometime, but that will probably be on my personal blog as it is not of particular interest to investors as such.
Comments
Richard BeddardWe've just upgraded to Excel 2007 (is it? The latest one anyway). Very confusing at first, and I'm not a power user so this is where I show my shallow side: the charts are simply beautiful. And the new colours and styles, well let's just say I open some of my spreadsheets just to look at them. I still use Google for basic spreadsheets though. The main advantage, I think (apart from collaboration) and one I don't think people make enough of, is the way they're archived in a great big river of spreadsheets and documents ready to be found by the wonderful Google Search Engine. Maybe I'm being naive but I think my spreadsheets are far safer on there than on in various nooks and crannies on my pc!
GraemeDesktop search and good backups would give you those advantages as well.
Also, I do worry a bit about privacy and security. Even if Google never mess up, the thought of Uncle Sam being able to read all my documents at will makes me a bit uncomfortable.
I also do not like depending on my internet connection being up, even more than I already do.
I am off MS Office for good. I can get it to run with a Windows compatibility layer, but I see no compelling reason to bother. I also really do like my documents being stored in open formats.