Google Spreadsheets are great. They can easily be shared without having to setup file servers. They can be updated via the API so that data can be kept current without user intervention. Unfortunately, it is pretty watered down compared to Excel.
Excel spreadsheets are great. They can contain complex calculations and charts. They can easily be edited, sorted, searched, etc. There may not be any better way to play with a data set than with Excel. Unfortunately, it is pretty difficult to share a frequently updating spreadsheet without a file server.
Excel has the ability to import a remote data source that can be updated at the click of a button. How great would it be if I could have an Excel (or Numbers) spreadsheet with calculations, charts, etc. The sheet would pull from another spreadsheet that was populated from a remote Google spreadsheet. I could then have code that updates the data on the Google spreadsheet as frequent as necessary.
It would be the best of both worlds. I could easily share the frequently updating data with a group of users who had their own copy of an infrequently updating presentation spreadsheet in Excel or Numbers.
In my specific situation everyone involved (currently) is on a Mac. So I could theoretically maintain the local updating of the remote Google data using an Apple Script (which I imagine would be easier if we were using Numbers and not Excel).
One Comment
The file server still seems a better way to go. (Actually a central database would be best but that takes more initial work). If you are worried about the file server thing, can’t you just get an old computer and plop it on the network? It can’t be hard to find a cheapo computer for the job if you don’t want to spend much.