Google spreadsheet
so, the rumor on those Internets is that Google is announcing a new web-based spreadsheet tomorrow. this is reported in the Wall Street Journal (subscription required). you may recall a post i made not too long ago when Google purchased writely.com — an online word processor. they haven’t released the Googlized version of this online word processor, but it’s no doubt coming soon.
i think Excel is the best application that Microsoft makes, fwiw. Google’s version doesn’t stand a chance to be competitive with Excel . . . not for a good long time. however, as i said with writely, the real beneficiaries in having a free/cheap online spreadsheet is going to be the k-12 market. as soon as they figure out that their students don’t need the full blown applications from Microsoft, these schools can start saving a lot of money per machine in their buildings. NO elementary school student is going to need any feature beyond what will be offered in the Google spreadsheet. schools have got to find a way to cut costs and break away from Office when they can use a cheap and viable alternative. in fact, there were features in writely.com that i played with that were better than MS Word (not a lot, mind you. . . but some). i haven’t heard anything about the details of a Google spreadsheet, so i won’t even try and speculate, but stay tuned tomorrow for the big news.
this is an edit, but i found the site to sign up (here). and here’s a preview:
Tags: Google, spreadsheet, writely, k-12
June 6th, 2006 at 5:15 am
Google Spreadsheet screenshots looks neat. But did you try out http://www.zohosheet.com . In addition to basic excel features it supports
Charting
Multiple sheets
Tags & Collaboration
Just try out, its an url away, access http://www.zohosheet.com
June 13th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
You know Sean I keep flipping around on the open source issue because of your discussions. On this topic, I certainly agree with you, I think this is a great idea for schools. It is free, easy to use (most likely) and since most schools have access to high speed as fast as Google. I hope that it will force Microsoft to lower the price of Office. I do worry about a couple things.
First is the potential Google monopoly. I like Google, use it all the time. However I worry about their business, they are becoming very large (in a shorter time even then Microsoft). With China they have shown they will break their code of ethics to do business. While I am sure the program will be free now and paid for by ads but what about the future? I do not believe Google is as evil as Microsoft but their growing power worries me.
Second is the data. This will be stored online most likely. The government has already shown they want to collect data on just about everything we do. What happens if they decide terrorists are using Goggle Spreadsheet to keep track of money? What if Google takes a turn for the worst and starts selling data they collect through this service.
I am frustrated by some of the trends I see with software and technology these days. Microsoft is talking about a pay by year service for some of their products. Like Genuine Advantage, I am sure this will start small and then take over everything. Then every year we will have to pay or our software shutsdown. This is already happening with Quicken and MS Money, now you have to buy a new package every two years or you can no longer use the online features. I recently purchased Half-Life 2: Episode 1 and had to activate it online. This also means that if Valve wants to, they can shut down the game for everyone.
A lot of these trend anger me as a dialup user as well. I doubt Google Spreadsheet would be very fun with dialup. I had to spend hours downloading updates to Episode 1. Websites take longer and longer to load and I am cut off from most digital content like video. It frustrates me to see this huge online community and knowing so many people have to use the super slow lane. The fact the large telecommunication companies control so much infuriates me, and don’t get me started what they are doing to prevent local communities from getting high-speed. The internet is fast becoming like power and water, a necessity vs. a luxury. The fact that the USA is dead last in broadband availability/speed is insane. Let alone the cost that consumers are forced to pay. If Canada can have service that is 15 times the speed of the US and covers most of the country for I think 20 dollars, why can’t we?
Now of course I do not need to use any of this software. However, computer’s today are unique. If Ford decides that I can only lease their car and that at any time they can take it back, I can go buy a Honda. There are not that many choices with computers. With Google buying up the planet (or so it seems some days) I worry about this. Will I be forced to use Goggle one day for a fee to search the web, or make my spreadsheets…
Might have gotten a little off topic, oh well, I like to rant. ïŠ