Spreadsheets, as they incarnated in Excel are akin to running old style no-named-subroutines, only-two-chars-per-variable-name, goto-line-number BASIC but on modern hardware. Ideas that could potentially grow into something safe and powerful cannot grow now because of market dominance of that outdated monster.

And I keep hearing the same arguments, like "it can be used without knowing how to program" - but have you actually seen those formulas they enter? How exactly it differs in complexity from, say, SQL? At least in SQL you'll have sanely named columns and can actually see logic, reading it a month later.

Mixing datasets and freeform reports in the same sheets is a design mistake. Having auto-conversion for data is a design mistake. Not having enforced row/column sets instead of just typing any formula anywere is a design mistake. All that leads to millions of wasted hours of human life just looking closely on rows and rows of numbers with squinted eyes, trying to figure where accidental keystroke had broken your data.

I really liked how MacOS Numbers approached spreadsheets, before they were somewhat butchered for ipads and excel compatibility: spreadsheets were not "infinite", separating concept of tables from concept of pages; column and row headers automatically used as names in formulas instead of undescriptive A1:B2 format, making them actually readable.

Unfortunately it was also slow as hell.

Airtable is a good direction for data entry purposes by multiple people, unfortunately it's no good for even medium sized tables, and exporting is limited.