

“Why is such a basic spreadsheet function still not available?” - alexholehouse
http://productforums.google.com/forum/#!topic/docs/TUltIeMntog

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michaelt
At this point it seems fairly obvious that Google isn't planning for Google
Docs to compete with Excel on features. Rather, they've figured out some ratio
of power users to non-power-users (like the oft-repeated claim that 80% of the
users only use 20% of the features but in Excel's case I suspect the ratio is
even higher) and they've decided to implement only the basic features used by
non-power-users.

I'm not sure why Google bothers to have a 'share an idea' forum when they have
no intention of implementing the 80% features. It's bound to be a magnet for
complaints when feature requests get ignored.

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joezydeco
_It 's bound to be a magnet for complaints when feature requests get ignored_

Maybe that's the idea, like the Close Door button on an elevator that really
does nothing.

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jeffgreco
The feelings of entitlement harbored by some of those posters is astonishing.

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latj
Thats the great thing about making your money from advertising...you can
always take away products at the drop of a hat or if anyone complains you have
the "you get what you paid for" defense... eventually humans will begin to
realize that their focus, attention, and metadata is of value and you rarely
get something for free.

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thejteam
I suppose the real answer is to just use Excel. The last time I used Google's
spreadsheet was probably about 2 to 3 years ago and there were major
deficiencies then. I used the spreadsheet in Open Office/Libre Office for
awhile. And then I went back to Excel. It has been refreshing.

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anxiousest
Google Sheets has changed quite a bit over those "2 to 3 years", being a web
app and all, Excel hasn't. I suggest taking second glance.

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dragonwriter
> Google Sheets has changed quite a bit over those "2 to 3 years", being a web
> app and all, Excel hasn't.

Excel 2013 actually has changed from Excel 2010.

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anxiousest
Perhaps, I doubt the change was as dramatic though, considering it's not just
the app itself that underwent transformation but also browsers and the web
platform as a whole. But then again we're talking about spreadsheet software.

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probably_wrong
Although I appreciate what Ted J is trying to do, I think he's missing the
point. When 50 users say "we really need this feature", the answer rarely is
"you don't need it, you only think you do because you've always been wrong
about it".

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dragonwriter
Ted J never says that they don't need it; he does try to provide workarounds
given that they don't have it yet and don't have a timeline.

