I thought the same thing as I read this. I understand the point Spolsky was making and wouldn't want to argue with it, but my dad used Excel formulas, every salesperson I've ever worked with used basic formulas, the marketing teams I worked with made basic formulas...
Also, surely one of the reasons so many people used it to make lists was that it was the tool Office shipped with that had gridlines (Word has them too, but they're clunky). If you bundle a spreadsheet along with the world's most popular word processor, it's no wonder it gets used for pedestrian tasks in addition to the ones Bricklin thought about.
This is a point Spolsky danced around in a much earlier blog post: 80% of users want just 20% of the features of a program, but they're not the same 20%.
Also, surely one of the reasons so many people used it to make lists was that it was the tool Office shipped with that had gridlines (Word has them too, but they're clunky). If you bundle a spreadsheet along with the world's most popular word processor, it's no wonder it gets used for pedestrian tasks in addition to the ones Bricklin thought about.
This is a point Spolsky danced around in a much earlier blog post: 80% of users want just 20% of the features of a program, but they're not the same 20%.