Why does business software have to be so boring? With all the changes in technology, including the internet, email, and RSS feeds—not to mention major breakthroughs in operating systems, browsers, and communications—has anything really changed for accounting and finance users? The last (and maybe the only) big breakthrough was in 1979 when Dan Bricklin and Bob Frankston developed VisiCalc and made Apple and Microsoft stockholders (but unfortunately, not Dan and Bob) wealthy. To this day the only standard in the financial reporting and analysis world is still the spreadsheet invented by Dan and Bob; this simple solution (whether Microsoft Excel, IBM’s Lotus, or Google spreadsheet) may well be the only software that is used by every accounting and financial professional users in the world; why? Since it is virtually the only application they have complete control over, they can depend on and trust their spreadsheets.

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