N-of-1 Software And The Unreasonable Effectiveness Of Excel

Many people have tried to kill spreadsheets. For some high-use, high-value applications, they've succeeded: It's called SaaS. But why does Excel's reign continue?

• Excel can process less data than even the simplest SQL database
• Excel uses ancient script instead of a normal programming language like C
• Connecting Excel to real-time information is annoying, DB connectors are beautiful
• Excel looks unchanged since the 90s

The answer: Customization. If I'm using some SaaS tool and I want it to calculate something different, I need to file a ticket. If I want that in Excel, I add a row. Excel is software that helps you think: I can try a dozen ideas in seconds each.

I think all software can be like Excel: If I want something to be different, AI can make the change. It doesn't matter if I'm the only person in the world that wants the change. It doesn't matter if I only want it changed just once – just to see how it would look.

Today, software is n-of-1-billion. Designed to fit everyone – and no one perfectly. AI lets us create n-of-1 software: Software that only serves a single person.

August 19, 2024 – Max Rumpf