excel (spreadsheet) alternatives

[hobgoblinvasya]

i'm not sure if this has been asked before, but my search didnt reveal any good info. thus my question is this:
for all you excel gurus, do you know any alternatives to using spreadsheets? (ex: anyway to recreate excel functionality on a web page, ms access, etc) that would allow the user to do pretty much the same things that you do in excel (ie. resize/add/delete/mask columns/rows, dynamic formulae, etc). perhaps even a commercial program?

the reason im trying to move away from excel is the fact that my file has become very big (>4mb), caused by the fact that i use alot of external references and one of the links points to a table of around 10000 rows by 40 columns.

also, needed is the ability to automatically update its data from an existing DB (reflecting any live changes) without the user having to manually update any source excel files.

basically, in the end, i need a file/program/web page that has an excel look and functionality and that fetches its info from a DB upon user input (ie. i enter a product number and i get its name, description, price, etc) and that it be small(ish) in its size and easy and fast to use.

there! lol ! im not sure it even exists but if any of you have came across similar needs and found various solutions, i would gladly listen to you

thanks in advance !

p.s. im fairly proficient in programming (VB, C#, as well as html et al.) so if you have examples of codes, etc, dont be shy

 

[hobgoblinvasya]

as usual.... a big big tnx to you and sydney for showing me various possibilities !!!

in the end i think i will try to use ADO (via UDF), and if it ends up being too slow (too much recalculations) i will be back to harassing you some more