Share Workbook/Protect Sheet Question

[Johnny Excel]

I have a spreadsheet where I want certain people who can enter data in all
cells and certain people that can enter data in just a few particular cells.
I need the workbook to be shared since multiple users could be in it making
changes. I used the Tools/Protection/Allow Users To Edit Ranges feature and
set the range of cells that would be protected and added the names of people
who were either allowed or denied to unprotect a sheet with a passord. It
doesn't seem to be working because I tested it on myself and I selected the
option to allow me to unprotect sheet without a password, and I still have to
enter a password. Even once you type in a password, you have to unshare the
workbook. Why can't protection and shared work book co-exist?

 

[Jim Thomlinson]

The problem is that sharing is a form of protection and you can only have one
form of protection running at any give time...

 

[Johnny Excel]

Is there another solution to my problem to share the workbook while having
only certain people access certain cells?