Its done already

http://nocodb.com/

This is fully open source

Thank you for shoutout. (Disclaimer : Founder here)

Yes, NocoDB[1] allows to transform your own databases into Airtable like smart-spreadsheets. It is easy to get started - please try it out.

[1] : https://github.com/nocodb/nocodb

Thanks for the pointer, this seems really neat! Although from what I can tell it primarily provides a data interface geared towards relational databases (or other record-oriented data sources).

I played around a little and am missing actual spreadsheet functionality - like the ability to do calculations, or other manipulations that you could do on tabular data in Excel/Google Sheets (and presumably Rows). Am I missing something?

Yes, its geared towards part-spreadsheet part-database space. We're similar to Airtable mostly.

You can do calculations by creating a column with formula field.

Any idea when they will have a decent implementation of forms (and maybe even subforms) with customized layouts? Last I checked it was ~on the road map.

Hey, Form views were made available with 0.11.42 (5 weeks ago). It can be customised with fields you need.

An error occurred on client - that's all I see. Either it's adblock or my outdated browser, but, in any case, it's a no go.

Founder here - what browser & OS is it ?

Hi, it's Ubuntu & FF50.1. Front page works now, but sign-up is empty for me. Anyway, I understand that supporting older browsers is not an easy task... probably. So, don't mind me.

Interesting... it doesn't seem to allow putting charts next to the spreadsheet though

That's coming literally today/monday :)

charts are live now

What prevents anyone from doing this in Excel/Google sheets? I've been doing Excel-based BI dashboards for 15 years, connecting to all kinds of backends. Excels have tables/charts/filters/buttons/pivots

Yes, Sheets is amazing already. It is missing integrations out of the box though which is where Rows is trying to win. I notice this problem a while back and built Wax (https://www.wax.run/). Wax adds the features you'd want from Rows to Sheets. We handle integrations and scheduling. Also, considering a lot of internal tools leverage SQL and Python, we make using those them from Sheets simple.

This is just my opinion, but it looks to me like you're competing with airtable/notion/retool rather than Excel.

As I see a couple of mentions on GRID (https://grid.is/) on this thread, I thought it might be interesting to share a little bit about how we see this space.

First of all, Rows is a fantastic tool. They are really onto something, especially in how to work get structured data out of other systems into a spreadsheet and then work with that kind of data in the "spreadsheet way" that we've all been trained in. This is a pain point of current spreadsheets and one that Rows is addressing in a really nice way.

If you think about all the things that spreadsheets are used for - which is a lot - it still generally falls into one of three categories (https://medium.grid.is/the-3-types-of-spreadsheets-3d021356c...): 1. Numbers and calculations 2. Small databases 3. Business processes

What Rows does falls mostly into the realm of small databases and business processes. And while each has their own approach, I'd say that most other "next-gen spreadsheets" are also focusing on these (big and important) use-cases. Airtable (https://airtable.com/), Spreadsheet.com (https://spreadsheet.com/) and Smartsheet (https://smartsheet.com/) all play mainly in this area.

GRID is focusing on the numbers and calculations use-case, allowing people that have already built a model or pulled together numerical data in a spreadsheet to better explore, explain and converse about them.

FileMaker is one product that does these things. It kind of languished while it was owned by Apple, and made some poor decisions. It does seem to have made a change for a better direction and I could see it making a comeback, but entry-level pricing is needed.

Note that FileMaker has (as far as I can tell) always been owned by Apple. Claris inc, and now FileMaker are whole owned subsidiaries of Apple.

I am not disagreeing with the languishing bit, only the hint that it had something to do with ownership.

>The real power of this product is as a replacement of BI/Visualization tools. Imagine being able to connect Rows to a database and create "governed" sheets that look/work like dashboards with charts, tables, filters, etc.

With respect, if your BI tools look like excel, you need a better BI tool

You mean like https://grid.is/ ?

Haven't heard from them before

Check out https://grid.is

I wish people would just show their product in their webpage instead of selling/telling what is can supposedly do

Scroll down to the “See what GRID can do” section.

Thanks, I gave those another try. They links didn't look inviting, expected just more of the same (text + images). But's actually an interactive demo from end-user perspective. that was easy to get: https://grid.is/@grid_templates/template-interactive-user-fu...

grid.is looks more like a shiny app on steroids while Rows feel more like a hardcore spreadsheet. That being said, I haven't tried any of these.

thank you! Yes, our goals is really to make a better spreadsheet - but simpler to use, integrated with the tools people use everyday, and 10x better to share.

Blockpad (https://blockpad.net) does this but with an engineering orientation.