# What do YOU think Excel is for? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 14, 2021, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-excel-is-for/942092 "2021-05-14T17:29:35Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 75
**Author:** ![JohnT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnt/32/15048_2.png) [@JohnT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JohnT)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2021, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-excel-is-for/942092/75 "2021-05-18T13:52:41Z")
I did vote Excel as the “greatest computer program of all time” in my thread here: > [@What is the greatest (most influential, whatever) computer program ever written?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-greatest-most-influential-whatever-computer-program-ever-written/830575/46): > > Appreciate the responses, everyone. My nomination is spreadsheets - I can go with “Excel” or “Visicalc-Lotus-Excel” or whatever, but in terms of productivity, usefulness, variety of output, and more, it’s hard to beat Excel. However, TCP/IP and the \*nix kernel are extremely strong contenders, as well as the C/COBOL/FORTRAN compilers mentioned. Does HTML count? Wait! I’m the OP - of course it counts! wink Baron Greenback, apparently I wasn’t |337 enough (or I forgot) - what did adding the s… I use it for a lot of things, usually mathy, but also stores of data - for example, I have this one spreadsheet that has the American box office totals from 1920-on for over 10,000 films. Probably should be in a database, but it was easier to steal the data and plop it in Excel, so _c’est la vie_. I once created a simple Excel form where I had the math done on a separate tab and you would’ve thought I invented Jesus. I’ve seen people use it as a word processor. Those people are stupid. I don’t know what else to say - I try to be kind, but if you are using a spreadsheet as a general word processor, that’s stupid. OTOH, I’ve used Excel to create lists which could’ve been created in a word processor, so that obviously was _not_ a stupid use of it. 😉 --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-excel-is-for/942092)._