Actually, I was wondering if I should leave SFE online or not, as I am the only one supporting this project anyway.
Microsoft are coming up with their own implementation and I bet that sooner or later they will leech on what has been done here and will market it properly (sooo many people amazed by the 3 Mickey Mouse charts they propose) ... so why should I bother ?
Out of 37.000downloads, I can count a handfull of "Thanks, keep up the good job !" not mentionning the few clicks on the coffee cup... so why should I bother ?
Anyway, I decided to put the files back online and re-open the blog, for what it's worth.
The files are available on : https://sourceforge.net/projects/sparklinesforxl/files/
Enjoy !
27 comments:
Hello Fabrice,
Thank you for placing SFE online again on SourceForge, as I was desperately looking for it.
I was reading you on the blog :
"Out of 37.000downloads, I can count a handfull of "Thanks, keep up the good job !"
From my personal experience, I can only confirm that "Thank you" are words almost no longer used.
After my first thank you for having placed the files again, I hope (and I am almost sure that I will) be able to give you a second very warm second thank you after having used this great tool.
Best Regards.
Alain in Belgium.
Hello Fabrice,
Thank you for placing the SFE files again on SOurceForge, as I was desperately looking for them.
I was reading you :
"Out of 37.000downloads, I can count a handfull of "Thanks, keep up the good job !"
From my personal experience, I can only confirm that "Thank you" are rarely used words.
So after my first thank you for having placed the files again, I will very shortly publish a second Thank You afer having used this great tool.
Best Regards.
Alain in Belgium.
Hi Fabrice,
I am one of the people guilty of downloading without thanking you properly, and I'd like to say I really appreciate what you did with Sparklines as it is a very helpful tool that provides unique analysis.
About MS coming up with their own sparklines, I was under the assumption that they had licensed it from you??? It's possible for them to just leech your work?
I understand your disappointment, but I urge you to keep up the innovation because you have something very important, and that's creativity - something the MS folks lost a while back.
Hi Fabrice,
I was looking for Sparklines yesterday too: I've been using it for a few weeks on another computer and it's a great tool.
Thank you for your hard work. Sparklines is a really well-designed and powerful tool. And sorry for not saying thank you sooner.
Fabrice, my friend,
of course I noticed that the access to your blog was restricted for a couple of days and I am more than happy that you decided to re-open it and to bring your fantastic Sparklines for XL online and available to the public again.
However, I can fully understand that there must be a lot of frustration on your side, after burning the midnight oil for so many nights, creating such a great piece of work, publishing it as open source and receiving much less positive response than appropriate.
I do hope I always gave you all the appreciation you deserve for your brilliant work. If I ever missed to do so, I apologize. Sparklines for XL are simply fantastic and I am still using them a lot. During my professional work in the last few years, I received a lot of appreciation and admiration from my clients for some of my dashboards using your sparklines. A massive part of all this is down to you. Seriously.
If you publish something on the internet for free, you always take the risk that a lot of free riders are simply downloading and using your work without ever giving you some appreciation, let alone paying you a coffee.
However, remember your number one favorite quote by the Dalai Lama: "Share your knowledge; it's the path to eternity."
Maybe you want to think of it this way: if both of us would have never published our work, we would have never got in touch. And – from my point of view – that would have been a real pity.
Please keep up your brilliant work.
Thank you!!
Take care
Robert
Love your sparklines. Its easily the best free adding for excel.
The sparklines that come with Excel 2010 are basic at best and taking in account that at least 60% of all Excel users won't do the upgrade to 2010 your addin will keep being the best option to use sparklines in Excel.
Anyway thanks again for your work, you deserve more than a cup of coffe for this excelent work.
Gracias Señor!!!
Hello Fabrice,
While I have not used your Sparklines in a probject, I've been inspired by the visualizations on your blog and the documentation you've provided. It's top quality work you've presented here at no cost, which in itself is also amazing.
Thanks,
Matt Grams
Hi Fabrice,
Just a few words to tell you how much I appreciate your work. Other tools are commercially available to make sparklines and the like, but yours are free, of great quality and install without admin rights.
Sparklines are only known to a "happy few", so interest in them is minimal. Plus one has to know that your tools exist. Maybe notifying Stephen Few, Edward Tufte, and the like (data visualization gurus), plus Excel bloggers (junkcharts.typepad.com, chandoo.org, www.databison.com, charts.jorgecamoes.com, peltiertech.com, www.exceluser.com), would help your site get some more attention (all mentioned sites have an interest in dashboards and would certainly be interested).
If you are looking for some help in development (vba, comments, ideas), I can contribute from time to time.
In any case, even if you're feeling down about your tools, don't remove them from the web. I am sure they will gain traction as time goes by.
And some of your sparklines simply do not exist in commercially available tools.
A most sincere thank you, from Guatemala, Fabrice.
Your Work helps a lot of people with little resources, to excel in their work
Hey Fabrice,
Another warm thank you from Bulgaria. :)
Yordan
Hi Fabrice,
good to see your site online again.
I think your sparklines-solution is miles ahead compared to the one implemented in Excel 2010 ... by the way: who uses Excel 2010?
You did a phantastic job and the decision-makers I support really like this way to visualize data; but it took time to convince them!
Please, keep on going ... SfE is a great Excel-Addin and irreplaceable for me. Thank you very much!
the best, cuboo
Dear Fabrice,
I too haven't said thanks, and I'm sorry because I think your work is great. I will buy you a cup of coffee and hope you will continue to develop this tool. I can't help you with the technical part, put will help with the support part in the future. Thank you!
Greetings,
Pascal
Thank you! I've tried a few times over the last couple of weeks or so to see the files, but wasn't able to do so. I am glad you have made them available again!
Fabrice... I sent you enough to buy a couple cups of espresso. You've got a great product and it's certainly appreciated. I say keep it up, even if it requires a small payment (EUR 5.00?) for use.
a good work! with it we don't need to buy 2k10!
I've only recently discovered the Sparklines and I must say that it is simply brilliant.
Pls do keep up the EXCELENT work. Many thanks from Portugal.
Hi Fabrice,
I plead guilty. No thank you yet, and I am a big fan of sparklines and your work.
I will try not to procrastinate anymore, and send you an example of the dashboard I have done with your sparklines.
You were right to tell us your frustration, and hope you can forgive us, and keep up with the very good work !
Come on 37000 downloads ! Numbers speak for themself ! Great success !
Guillaume
Are there any step by step instructions anywhere? the manual shows examples, and there are some sample files, but I would appreciate a real walk through on it.
Thank you very much, good job! (Now I have to learn to use it!)
One thing I did not find are arrows to show a trend (Arrow up/Down) - is that planned?
Thank you from the core of my heart!!
I am guilty myself of not thanking you earlier but earnestly believe your work is just fantastic.
Best Regards
Bigv
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. ... If the words do not come easily with frantic days, the number of downloads is a good measure of your success. Though maybe not the 'warmest' one, there is a person behind each one of those clicks.
Thank you so much for creating Sparklines - I use it daily here in Toronto, Canada.
Sorry for not saying Thanks sooner.
Thanks! I've been reading about sparklines for a few years (since I saw Dr. Tufte here in Minneapolis) but just found your toolset yesterday, now that I have a real use for them. Thanks for your effort, and for making the fruits of your labor freely available!
Regards,
Curt Carlson
I love your work and have used your solutions since you first started publishing them and I never once took the time to say thank you. So here it is... Thank you for for excellent tools and even agreater thank you for your documentation. I would say more but I am writing this on my cell phone. Thank you.
Thanks so much for the work you've done - and hopefully will continue to do. Sparklines rock!
Strong work man. Just started working with it. The learning curve doesn't seem too steep.
Thanks for creating and supporting.
To the coffee cup, maybe i'm as think as two short planks, but I can't figure out how to transfer $s to you.
Fabrice, un grand merci. Open source, installs easily without admin - just too bad i am stuck on Excel 2002 ;-)
I just found your site, and appreciate the thought and work that you have put into this.
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