Best free spreadsheets
Freeware replacements for Excel and Visio
Subscriber Allan Marillier writes "Gizmo take a look at GNUMeric [1] as a free alternative to MS-Excel, and DIA [2] for a free alternative to Visio. DIA is not yet as advanced as Visio, but it is still good for a freebie. GNUmeric flawlessly opened some of my large Excel spreadsheets with all kinds of formulas, charts, custom conditional formatting etc." Nice suggestions there Allan. Both these programs form part of the Linux Gnome Office Suite, though the versions I tested ran on Windows. DIA is not quite there yet, but it's highly usable for simple charting. Indeed, I preferred it to the online charting service Gliffy [3]. Its limitations noted, DIA is a "must-have" for students who can't afford Visio. GNUmeric is a very different animal to DIA. This one really impressed me; it's probably the best freeware spreadsheet program (or web app) I've tried. Indeed, for most users it's a totally usable substitute for Excel. To test its limits I gave it to a friend who works as an actuary. His comments: " ... flawless, it correctly ran all my standard macros and even handled a complex 1100 line derivative macro that chokes on early version of Excel." He did note that he won't be abandoning Excel anytime soon.
[1] http://www.gnome.org/projects/gnumeric/ Freeware, Win2K-Vista, 16.2MB
[2] http://live.gnome.org/Dia Freeware, Win2K-Vista, 12.2MB
[3] http://www.gliffy.com/
Free Excel add-in monitors your stocks
Tikr is "a free Excel add-in application that allows you to get, monitor and analyze stock quotes and live market data directly in Excel." For a freebie it's surprisingly sophisticated. It allows you to set up your own portfolio, create watch lists and set up quite sophisticated alerts. For each stock you can report a huge array of statistics from simple P/E through to departures from various moving averages. You can also track market gainers and losers and fast moving stocks. All your personal information is held on your own PC rather than a server and nothing is transmitted back to Tikr. On the minus side, the company reserves the right to include advertising at a future date but that would seem like a small price to pay for such a slick product. I don't currently play the market but if I did I'd be using Tikr. Thanks to subscriber Satyendra Dhingra for letting me know about this one. Freeware, Windows 2000 and later with Excel 2000 and later, 3.7MB.
http://www.etikr.com
Free MS Excel resources
The web design at this site [1] is poor but the tips, tricks and tutorials are excellent. Check out the second link, too. This site is not only easier on eyes but has excellent information for Excel users at all levels.
[1] http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/excel.htm
[2] http://www.mrexcel.com/articles.shtml