Comments on: Google Spreadsheets turns up heat on Excel

Web-based program puts search giant in even more competition with rival Microsoft.
Images: Google's Excel challenge

[nealsaferstein]

Trojan Horse

Why build an office suite. When you can make the market obsolete?

Neal Saferstein

[Inspector-Grammar]

Poor sentence construntion

Your post, if done correctly, should have been one question, Not a sentence and a question. Geez! It was one line....You couldn't take the time to proof read it.

Penalty: Three days without dessert.

Inspector Grammar

--
Many people seem to feel that sloppy writing is acceptable. To me, it is just another indication of the degradation of society.

[nealsaferstein]

Trojan Horse

Why build an office suite. When you can make the market obsolete?

Neal Saferstein

[Inspector-Grammar]

Poor sentence construntion

Your post, if done correctly, should have been one question, Not a sentence and a question. Geez! It was one line....You couldn't take the time to proof read it.

Penalty: Three days without dessert.

Inspector Grammar

--
Many people seem to feel that sloppy writing is acceptable. To me, it is just another indication of the degradation of society.

[Don_Dodge]

Google competing with OpenOffice

Google is directly competing with open source projects like OpenOffice and Sun's free StarOffice.

Google acquired Writely (word processing) and now has a spreadsheet. There was speculation last year that Google would partner with Sun to offer a version of StarOffice. Instead Google has decided to go its own way and compete with OpenOffice and StarOffice.

C/Net says "Google spreadsheets turns up heat on Excel" I don't think so. Microsoft Office is a powerful, industrial strength, client based, information worker productivity platform. Microsoft Office is moving beyond just being a collection of applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) to being a server based application platform for ISVs. Lots of companies run their business on Excel spreadsheets. Now creative start-ups are using Office as a front end User Interface to a whole variety of business applications.

I wrote a blog on this subject today http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2006/06/google_competin.html

[Don_Dodge]

Google competing with OpenOffice

Google is directly competing with open source projects like OpenOffice and Sun's free StarOffice.

Google acquired Writely (word processing) and now has a spreadsheet. There was speculation last year that Google would partner with Sun to offer a version of StarOffice. Instead Google has decided to go its own way and compete with OpenOffice and StarOffice.

C/Net says "Google spreadsheets turns up heat on Excel" I don't think so. Microsoft Office is a powerful, industrial strength, client based, information worker productivity platform. Microsoft Office is moving beyond just being a collection of applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) to being a server based application platform for ISVs. Lots of companies run their business on Excel spreadsheets. Now creative start-ups are using Office as a front end User Interface to a whole variety of business applications.

I wrote a blog on this subject today http://dondodge.typepad.com/the_next_big_thing/2006/06/google_competin.html

[pcpimpster]

My Company Can't Use This, But I Might

I'm the IT manager/software developer for an insurance auditing firm and Excel is (files managed from an in-house portable inventory application) used to complete audits of small to medium sized companies.

I haven't used GooXel yet, but from the screen shots it doesn't look up to par for the corporate world and unless there is a really good (hopefully there will be) web API
I can not integrate it into a disconnected app for portability.

I will use this though for "simple" spreadsheets, like pricing out my next server or desktop build.

If it has an API, maybe ill use it to archive the needed data onto googles servers.

But I have like 2 terabytes of data storage on my LAN, so why would I bother doing that?

The long range would be to write an app that replaces Excel.

Or

Anyone try InfoPath yet? It spits out xml or connects to a dbase by default and keeps all of the heavy forms objects in a template file.

Attach your templates/forms to any SQL dbase and you got an enterprise level platform a trained chimp could develop against.

It works over web service calls also.



















But if i already need excel for the hard stuff, why would i not just use it then for the simple
stuff.

[pcpimpster]

My Company Can't Use This, But I Might

I'm the IT manager/software developer for an insurance auditing firm and Excel is (files managed from an in-house portable inventory application) used to complete audits of small to medium sized companies.

I haven't used GooXel yet, but from the screen shots it doesn't look up to par for the corporate world and unless there is a really good (hopefully there will be) web API
I can not integrate it into a disconnected app for portability.

I will use this though for "simple" spreadsheets, like pricing out my next server or desktop build.

If it has an API, maybe ill use it to archive the needed data onto googles servers.

But I have like 2 terabytes of data storage on my LAN, so why would I bother doing that?

The long range would be to write an app that replaces Excel.

Or

Anyone try InfoPath yet? It spits out xml or connects to a dbase by default and keeps all of the heavy forms objects in a template file.

Attach your templates/forms to any SQL dbase and you got an enterprise level platform a trained chimp could develop against.

It works over web service calls also.



















But if i already need excel for the hard stuff, why would i not just use it then for the simple
stuff.

[Captain_Spock]

THE QUESTION OF "TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP"

Why spend hundreds of dollars on solutions from the Microsoft Corporation when you can achieve perhaps even better results (than this Google Spreadsheet) with a forty-nine dollar OpenOffice.org Solution for eComStation and OS/2 which comes with support for the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) recognized Open Document Format Standards by the OASIS GROUP!

http://www.ecomstation.com/openoffice.phtml

DUH!

[Captain_Spock]

THE QUESTION OF "TOTAL COST OF OWNERSHIP"

Why spend hundreds of dollars on solutions from the Microsoft Corporation when you can achieve perhaps even better results (than this Google Spreadsheet) with a forty-nine dollar OpenOffice.org Solution for eComStation and OS/2 which comes with support for the International Organization for Standardization's (ISO) recognized Open Document Format Standards by the OASIS GROUP!

http://www.ecomstation.com/openoffice.phtml

DUH!

[GeSchmidtt]

Yawn....

I can't see where this product does anything for Google then position them as a target for competition from M$. People who use spread sheets a lot already have one installed, and are probably loyal to it. People who are just getting going on a spread sheet in a business environment will probably not be exposed to it, as I can't think of any enterprise that would look at this offering seriously and standardise around it, finally, occasional users (who may need it for adding up a column of numbers) are not going to make this product a mainstay so after a while why would Google see reason to spend money to keep the product up to date or even further it.

So, its ulimate purpose? Waving a red cape in front of the M$ bull.

[technewsjunkie]

With that attitude nothing would ever get done

or change.

start small.

[t8]

You forgot something

There is a constant stream of users that are using software for the first time and this will always be the case.
Google is trying to move people's dependence away from Windows to the Web.
So obviously they need to provide services on the Web in order to do that.
Believe it or not, one day your kids are going to laugh at your comment, if they ever read it.

[GeSchmidtt]

Yawn....

I can't see where this product does anything for Google then position them as a target for competition from M$. People who use spread sheets a lot already have one installed, and are probably loyal to it. People who are just getting going on a spread sheet in a business environment will probably not be exposed to it, as I can't think of any enterprise that would look at this offering seriously and standardise around it, finally, occasional users (who may need it for adding up a column of numbers) are not going to make this product a mainstay so after a while why would Google see reason to spend money to keep the product up to date or even further it.

So, its ulimate purpose? Waving a red cape in front of the M$ bull.

[technewsjunkie]

With that attitude nothing would ever get done

or change.

start small.

[t8]

You forgot something

There is a constant stream of users that are using software for the first time and this will always be the case.
Google is trying to move people's dependence away from Windows to the Web.
So obviously they need to provide services on the Web in order to do that.
Believe it or not, one day your kids are going to laugh at your comment, if they ever read it.

[kamwmail-cnet1]

Great. Now MIS is going to block Google.

I hope Google is going to put their spreadsheets on a seperate site address from main google or gmail. Or MIS is going to have to block Google in general. Can't have retards putting up company spreadsheets on an open server.

[TV James]

True

Yeah, they're already blocking the chat function inside of Gmail here using the IP redirection "solution" offered in the Gmail faq. I wonder how much Google actually thinks about overall ramifications. Is it cool? Yeah. Is it a problem? Yeah.

I'm more interested to see what happens with Google Notebook also launched today. I'm still trying to figure out what it does, but it seems like it allows you to take content from other people's websites and aggregate it and store it on Google's servers and make it available to the public. (I may have an incorrect understanding of what Notebook does.)

[kamwmail-cnet1]

Great. Now MIS is going to block Google.

I hope Google is going to put their spreadsheets on a seperate site address from main google or gmail. Or MIS is going to have to block Google in general. Can't have retards putting up company spreadsheets on an open server.

[TV James]

True

Yeah, they're already blocking the chat function inside of Gmail here using the IP redirection "solution" offered in the Gmail faq. I wonder how much Google actually thinks about overall ramifications. Is it cool? Yeah. Is it a problem? Yeah.

I'm more interested to see what happens with Google Notebook also launched today. I'm still trying to figure out what it does, but it seems like it allows you to take content from other people's websites and aggregate it and store it on Google's servers and make it available to the public. (I may have an incorrect understanding of what Notebook does.)

[VI Joker]

What is the benefit?

I am not referring just to Google Spreadsheet, but all online spreadsheet programs. I do not see much companies usinig it because who knows what happens to the data as its being worked on online or saved online. I think the same can be said for personnal usage as well, but online in respect to finance and business information. There is a lot of data being lost or stolen from various companies and government agencies to the point that people and companies are concerns about the kind of data that is used in public venues. While online tools do provide greater accessibility than their desktop counterparts they will be novelties until security and privacy concerns can be soothed.

[t8]

The point is?

What is the point of text messaging, when you can email.

I conclude that you are a follower, not a leader. Followers often complain about things, but then follow the trend later.

[VI Joker]

What is the benefit?

I am not referring just to Google Spreadsheet, but all online spreadsheet programs. I do not see much companies usinig it because who knows what happens to the data as its being worked on online or saved online. I think the same can be said for personnal usage as well, but online in respect to finance and business information. There is a lot of data being lost or stolen from various companies and government agencies to the point that people and companies are concerns about the kind of data that is used in public venues. While online tools do provide greater accessibility than their desktop counterparts they will be novelties until security and privacy concerns can be soothed.

[t8]

The point is?

What is the point of text messaging, when you can email.

I conclude that you are a follower, not a leader. Followers often complain about things, but then follow the trend later.

[jeffhesser]

consoles for everyone

we have made such strides in the speed and power of PC's why on earth would we want to scrap that in exchange for a slower dulled down option that runs on the web? I understand how nice it is to have the ability to pick it up anywhere but I want robust products that take advantage of new technology, not a way to turn my $2000 computer into a console.

[jeffhesser]

consoles for everyone

we have made such strides in the speed and power of PC's why on earth would we want to scrap that in exchange for a slower dulled down option that runs on the web? I understand how nice it is to have the ability to pick it up anywhere but I want robust products that take advantage of new technology, not a way to turn my $2000 computer into a console.

[locoHost]

You guys are TOTALLY missing the point

Do any of you know how much it costs a business to run it's IT department? Of course it depends on the size of your company. It's millions upon MILLIONS (and more!) of dollars spent anually in hardware and software maintance. That doesn't even include the enormous cost of keeping trained staff on hand to babysit all this technology. Can you try to imagine for a second what it would mean "fiscally" for a business to totally outsource the -entire- IT department? Can you imagine for one second the millions upon MILLIONS of dollars they'd save anually? Noodle that for few minutes and get back to me.

:-)

[Captain_Spock]

This Does Not Take A Rocket Scientist...

... to "Noodle that for few minutes and get back to" you about the "the millions upon MILLIONS of dollars they'd save anually?"; and, guess what? now those business consultants (and companies) can afford that ride aboard the "CONCORDE" (which only costs thousands) while travelling around the world on those services calls... WOW!

[kamwmail-cnet1]

YOU are totally missing the point.

Business is all about confidentiality. What idiot is going to put their financial spreadsheets or budget forecasts on an open server? Oh, better yet, let's post the new marketing plans.

DUH

[locoHost]

You guys are TOTALLY missing the point

Do any of you know how much it costs a business to run it's IT department? Of course it depends on the size of your company. It's millions upon MILLIONS (and more!) of dollars spent anually in hardware and software maintance. That doesn't even include the enormous cost of keeping trained staff on hand to babysit all this technology. Can you try to imagine for a second what it would mean "fiscally" for a business to totally outsource the -entire- IT department? Can you imagine for one second the millions upon MILLIONS of dollars they'd save anually? Noodle that for few minutes and get back to me.

:-)

[Captain_Spock]

This Does Not Take A Rocket Scientist...

... to "Noodle that for few minutes and get back to" you about the "the millions upon MILLIONS of dollars they'd save anually?"; and, guess what? now those business consultants (and companies) can afford that ride aboard the "CONCORDE" (which only costs thousands) while travelling around the world on those services calls... WOW!

[kamwmail-cnet1]

YOU are totally missing the point.

Business is all about confidentiality. What idiot is going to put their financial spreadsheets or budget forecasts on an open server? Oh, better yet, let's post the new marketing plans.

DUH

[WxULM]

NumSum Anyone?

Nothing new from google, however, nice to see more online "free" apps for the masses to use. I've used NumSum a few times and have not had any problems with it.

Hopefully people won't get sucked into relying on spreadsheet.google.com for their only spreadsheet. Especially since google's track record with online apps is not as good as it could be -- blogger.com for example.

http://numsum.com/

[nealsaferstein]

??

Google overtakes Microsoft?

Neal Saferstein

[WxULM]

NumSum Anyone?

Nothing new from google, however, nice to see more online "free" apps for the masses to use. I've used NumSum a few times and have not had any problems with it.

Hopefully people won't get sucked into relying on spreadsheet.google.com for their only spreadsheet. Especially since google's track record with online apps is not as good as it could be -- blogger.com for example.

http://numsum.com/

[nealsaferstein]

??

Google overtakes Microsoft?

Neal Saferstein