[Emily Pease]

Once you really get to know Matlab, you'll become addicted to it, and you will start writing m-files for the simplest calculations, just in case you'll need to make that same calculation again. I haven't used Matlab in a few weeks, and I'm actually going through withdrawals. I have tiny pangs of nausea when I have to use a calculator or ::gasp:: pencil and paper.

But seriously, even if you're just comparing data analysis capabilities of both, it really depends on the application.

I do have a soft spot in my heart for the fancy ways you can organize data in Excel. If you haven't already, you should check out "Excel Hacks" by O'Reilly.