Google has decided to expand its horizons yet again by reaching into the spreadsheet arena. Google Spreadsheets went into limited testing. I signed up for and received an invitation. I’ve spent a little time playing with it, and so far, I am very impressed. Admittedly, I am not the most advanced Excel user. I just don’t have much use for its more advanced features. I use it primarily to sort and organize data and perform basic calculations.
On the surface, Google Spreadsheets appears to be a very capable web application. I was able to easily open, edit and save files to the online workspace. It also handled my existing spreadsheets with ease. Google allows you to save and download your files as csv, xls or html files for easy use with your existing spreadsheet application. Existing files that I opened using Google seemed to retain all my formatting and formulas. After making changes to the document via Google, I saved it back to my hard drive and opened it with Excel. There were no compatibility issues going between the two editors. Again, none of the files I tested made use of any really complicated formulas or layouts, but it worked well with what I gave it.
Another great feature that should be expected from Google by now — collaboration. Google allows you to invite people to either view or edit your spreadsheet in much the same manner that Google Calendar does. Multiple users can even be editing the same document at the same time. An integrated chat window shows the current edits/editors in real-time.
Overall, at this very early stage, Google Spreadsheets shows a lot of potential. It would be great to be able to edit spreadsheets on the road when you might not have access to Excel or whatever spreadsheet application you use.
With the release of this limited beta, Google is making its presence known in the office/productivity realm. Google Calendar could be seen as an attempt to give Gmail the scheduling functionality of email clients such as Microsoft Outlook. Google also recently purchased Writely, an online word processor, so don’t be surprised when you see “Google Write” or something like that in the near future. Should Microsoft be worried? Maybe. No enterprise business is going to switch over to Google to replace Microsoft Office. It just won’t happen. There are too many potential data security and accessibility issues to consider. However, for the casual office application user, Google Spreadsheets and other web-based productivity applications could be viable options. Like I said, Google Spreadsheets appears to do most of what I need out of a spreadsheet already. So, yes, Microsoft should at least take note. For the casual home user, Google Spreadsheets could be an excellent solution. For home users who don’t want to shell out several hundred dollars, but don’t trust or don’t want to do all their work online, there is always OpenOffice, the free, open-source productivity suite.
From just a quick review of its features, Google Spreadsheets looks like another success from Google. I am sure it will eventually feature AdSense or some other revenue-generating mechanism — which is fine with me. After all, Google exists to make money, and there’s nothing wrong with that. I recommend you give Google Spreadsheets a try. It is invitation-only right now, but a friend and I both signed up and received invitations within hours. Check it out - I doubt you will be disappointed.
Screenshots: 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5
Technorati Tags: collaboration, excel, Google, google spreadsheets, microsoft, sharing, spreadsheets, web applications
Time for an in depth review of Vista and Office 2007 from Zacky. My main app is Outlook and am disappointed. Installed it on XP. It is slow with rendering problems. Vista B2 looks and runs great. Haven’t installed a thing on it but anyone who visits Thurrot’s site can read all the problems with it. C’mon Zack get to testing! Slacker.
Gary Ainsworth
June 13th, 2006
Be patient man.
Zack
June 13th, 2006