Spreadsheet development has more or less solidified over the past year -- the majority of the features that most people need are already there in long-established proprietary programs like Excel and Lotus 123 -- and that means that the door is open for smaller companies and free software projects to grab market share with capable, inexpensive products. That's probably the best way to describe SoftMaker's $49.95 PlanMaker 2004 for Linux, which was released earlier this month: capable, inexpensive, cross-platform competition for Microsoft Excel 2003. You won't find a more Excel-compatible spreadsheet on any operating system, but Microsoft compatibility is far from PlanMaker's only worthwhile feature.