Initial release ? Available in English License ? | Written in ? Type Online spreadsheet | |
Operating system | ||
eXpresso is a hosted workspace for Microsoft Office communities. Excel spreadsheet management is the first application offered. It is among the growing number of Web 2.0, SaaS offerings in the online spreadsheet market. eXpresso serves as a collaborative platform specifically for Excel business users.
Contents
History
Exploring Creative Possibilities prompted investors to present eXpresso as a standalone product. The free public beta release was introduced in August 2007.
Features
The eXpresso service featured Version Control, Compare, Cell Watch and integrated online chat tools. The Compare feature allows two spreadsheets to be viewed side-by-side with differences highlighted and color-coded by type of change: formula or value.
Cell Watch automatically sends an email when a designated cell value or formula is changed by a member of the community. Details of all spreadsheet changes by itself are recorded and become permanently attached to the document to provide an audit trail.
Excel only
eXpresso is exclusively designed to support Excel and does not offer a generic or browser-based spreadsheet. Excel users can optionally download and install an add-in called eXpresso Add-In for Excel which allows upload, open and edit eXpresso spreadsheets from Excel. Further the add-in allows spreadsheets to be taken offline to perform work on it independent of an Internet connection.
Integration and interoperability
eXpresso is available on Salesforce.com's AppExchange platform.
Patents
eXpresso has multiple pending patents on its underlying technology. It transforms Excel data and creates a series of related database structures (tables) for data, cell references, formulas, macros, and formats. It then performs the specified operations on data, structure and formulas before reassembling the result and presenting it back in native Excel.
Subscriptions
Pricing is based on a subscription model which includes a free version for light users or individuals. The user agreement shows that it is presently in Version 1.0 beta. It has a 10 Mb space limit per user license without charge.
Security
All user levels are protected by secure servers and strict password authorization.