Re: "Parallel music view" - inspiration for LilyPond editors.

[Tim Roberts]

Francisco Vila <address@hidden> wrote:
> I think that what you want does actually exist, and it is called a
> spreadsheet. They are commonly used for (or primarily intended for)
> numbers and formulae laid out in rows and columns, although people do
> use them for pretty everything from "I lost my dog" ads to restaurant
> menus.

Please forgive two interesting although off-topic side trips.

There was a study a number of years ago to survey the databases in the
world, to determine in which applications the databases were stored.  By
FAR, the number one database application in the world is Excel.

In the mid 1990s, there was stiff competition between Microsoft's Excel
and Borland's Quattro Pro for dominance in the post-Lotus spreadsheet
war.  Both companies were preparing a new version.  Borland left it to
their programmers to design a great spreadsheet.  They came up with a
statistician's dream: multivariate analysis, data reduction, complex
cross-sheet analytics, etc.  It was mathematical greatness of the first
division, filled with features that only 10 people in the world knew how
to use.

Microsoft, on the other hand, went out to clients and watched them, to
figure out what people actually did.  They discovered, to their
surprise, that the vast majority of Excel users were using it to keep
track of lists of stuff.  So, they added features to make THAT easier. 
Automatic list numbering, better and easier sorting, automatic
formatting, anticipatory typing, etc.

And that's why Excel is around today and Quattro Pro is irrelevant.

-- 
Tim Roberts, address@hidden
Providenza & Boekelheide, Inc.