I need to chart dated time-series using simple line charts. I
recently got a trial of a financial data service, CEIC. It is a
breeze. I click on a dated time series, and, hurrah! A graph pops
up. I click on the next, and yahoo! Another graph. It makes life
easy and fun. I can compare things without endless Excel grunt-work,
which is so agonizing.

Now, the big question - are there other programs, besides Excel, which
could make handling time-series data more fun, more intuitive, easier?
Any ideas? What I need to do is so simple - to run a line-graph
QUICKLY from a simple time series - and yet Excel makes it such hard
work. Excel seems spread-sheet focused, not oriented towards quickly
and easily delivering graphical ouput. There must be something else.
Anyone have any good experiences?