NumSum isn’t new, but I hadn’t really played with it until today (it’s actually nice that things are slowing down for Thanksgiving, giving me time to check out stuff I’ve missed).
It’s well thought through Ajax spreadsheet application, with very basic functions. They’ve added tagging, and you can generate a permanent URL for any spreadsheet, even without creating an account (non-registered spreadsheets will only be up for seven days, however).
There’s also a great tool for importing the spreadsheet into a blog. See this post by Adam Marsh for an example.
It’s more of an experiment than a truly useful application. I do not believe you can make spreadsheets private, for example. However, seeing stuff like this and writely make it extremely clear that a full office suite on the web is not only achievable, but should be here already.
You can actually make spreadsheets private actually.
I’ve been using this site for the last couple months to do some basic stuff and it’s been working out pretty well.
The biggest thing I’d like to see is an import/export function though. From what I’ve seen, there doesn’t seem to be a way to import or export data into/from num sum.
I guess it would have helped if I said how to make a spreadsheet private:
When you’re editing the spreadsheet, click the “More properties” link and there’s a make public checkbox under the ‘collaborate’ tab.
What I’d like to see is a way to reference a cell in someone else’s spreadsheet; someone could, for example, maintain a spreadsheet of currency exchange rates and its cells could be incorporated into everyone else’s formulas. Given that all NumSum’s calculations are done with Javascript and local data, though, that would be tricky to implement.
Why don’t people talk more about ThinkFree (I know you’ve mentioned it here on TechCrunch)….probably because it uses currently unsexy technology (java vs. AJAX)…but here you have a full office suite online and available for free. Seems like a no-brainer to me for Google to pick them up and then start challenging Microsoft.
ThinkFree has a free full office suite on the web, running as Java applets. I use it to edit the same .xls files from work and home. (No I don’t work for them.)
I have tried using writely…it’s a little bit limited, but it works nicely.
Numsum is a shambles. You can’t copy formulas so you have to create each one manually. The navigation is terrible. There’s a lot more wrong with it, too, but it’s a start, I guess. At this point, though, it’s not useful.
Thank you for telling me about thinkfree. I am going to check it out now.
Look at http://www.irows.com
They do spreadsheets like it should be done. You can copy formulas, build them by click/drag, very cool and nice user interface. Error messages are clear.
Thanks to Joe D for his comment…iRows appears more polished than NumSum and is working beautifully for me.
Thanks for bringing ThinkFree to my knowledge. It is simply AWESOME. Yes it takes a little while to load but I am amazed at how closly it resembles MS Excel. Great job and it is definetely they way to go. Also the downloading and uploading documents so you can work offline as well is great.
check out Webspread it can be found at: more rudamentary than numsum
but is easy to instantiate anywhere.
http://www.forbinsystems.com/services.html
EditGrid ( http://www.editgrid.com ) is another Web 2.0 spreadsheet competiting in the spreadsheet market, with charts, post-to-blog function, remote data update (e.g. stockquote and forex) and real-time update, differentiating itself from the others.