Spreadsheets are a huge risk to everyone, especially those who haven't made the leap to "real" programming. Excel, 1-2-3, Visicalc are, taxonomically speaking,

Spreadsheets are a huge risk to everyone, especially those who haven't made the leap to "real" programming. Excel, 1-2-3, Visicalc are, taxonomically speaking, in the same class. We have a new order of tools. While they have their own inherent risks, they reflect literally decades of thinking about the risks and limitations of tools whose lineage traces back to Visicalc. Macro management and security, versioning, distributed access, multidimensionality; all are addressed in a handful of ways with Alpha, Tableau, Looker and other progressive tools. Excel, floppies, line printers; relics.