> The excel database functions (DAVERAGE, DCOUNT, DGET, DMAX, DMIN, DPRODUCT, DSTDEV, DSUM, DVAR) give you about 90% of what you want in a database with a query "language" that's simpler than SQL.
As someone who has worked rather extensively with both, no, they give a lot less than 90%, and for even fairly simple uses they are often more complex to use than SQL.
I've seen non-programmers with years of Excel experience and including several formal classes struggle to use the database functions to do things that non-programmers with similar levels of general technical proficiency breeze through in SQL after a single couple of days intro to SQL class. It's not a scientific study, but in my experience what I said is particularly true of the "non-programmer" mind.
As someone who has worked rather extensively with both, no, they give a lot less than 90%, and for even fairly simple uses they are often more complex to use than SQL.