Google Releases Ajax Based Excel Killer

[george]

Google Takes Aim at Excel

SAN FRANCISCO: -- Stepping up its attack on Microsoft's core business, Google plans to make available on Tuesday a test version of a Web-based spreadsheet program that is intended to make it simple to edit and share lists and data online.

The company said that the free program, called Google Spreadsheets, would be able to read and create files in the format used by Excel, the Microsoft spreadsheet software that is installed on millions of personal computers.

The spreadsheet service is another step in Google's steady march toward creating its own computing universe that is an alternative to desktop PC software now dominated by Microsoft. It comes just months after Google bought a small Silicon Valley company called Upstart, creators of a Web-based word-processing program called Writely.

As Google has been moving into Microsoft's traditional desktop turf, Microsoft has been fighting back by adding online components to its software and building up its Web offerings. It is working especially hard to challenge Google's dominance in Web search services and the lucrative advertising they generate.

Google executives said Monday that the spreadsheet program would make it possible for as many as 10 people to simultaneously edit a spreadsheet document online and chat about it using Google's instant messaging program.

The new service will be able to handle several hundred formulas used to manipulate data in Excel, but not more complex functions like macros, said Jonathan Rochelle, the Google Spreadsheets product manager.

"When people want to share and collaborate, we think this product fits in well," Mr. Rochelle said.

The service was developed by Google's research arm, Google Labs. The company stressed the experimental nature of the product and said that the service would initially be offered to only a limited number of users.

The spreadsheet service is intended to appeal to small groups of business users, or to people who now use spreadsheets as de facto database programs to keep simple lists, Mr. Rochelle said. For example, soccer coaches who are juggling team lists and people planning family reunions might use it to put data in a place where it can be easily viewed and edited by others.

Mr. Rochelle said the ability for many people to collaborate was quite different from the standard method of e-mailing files back and forth. "It's a 'wow' moment with most users," he said.

For now, Google Spreadsheets lacks the ability to chart information. But Google is clearly hoping that the service and Writely will give it a head start on Microsoft in the area of so-called Web services.

Google has played down its efforts in this field. Despite widespread talk that Writely could compete with Microsoft Word, Eric E. Schmidt, Google's chief executive, said at a recent news conference that the company had no intention of using Writely to enter the word-processing marketplace. Rather, he said, Google was hoping to integrate Web-based word processing into many services that it was developing.

Last year, Microsoft responded to the growing availability of online alternatives to traditional desktop programs by announcing Windows Live and Office Live, two Microsoft-oriented Web portals.

Microsoft says that the Office Live Collaboration service permits several users to edit an Excel spreadsheet document simultaneously. But for the service to work, users must have Excel software on their personal computers. Google is hoping that many Web users will find it simpler to share the information by placing it on Google's servers.

Alan Yates, general manager for information worker business strategy at Microsoft, said that the ability to collaborate had been available to Microsoft Office users for some time. Mr. Yates said the company was watching the low end of the market closely, pointing to a number of free and online spreadsheet services now available, including OpenOffice, SimDesk and ThinkFree. But he said Excel's widespread adoption and powerful features made it superior.

"We see most consumers are really looking for more integration with their school or work life," he said. "They want more compatibility and not less."

As is almost always the case, Google executives deflected questions about how it would derive revenue from its new service.

Mr. Rochelle said that for now the company had no plans to connect the service to its AdWords advertising system, which places relevant text advertisements on Web pages.

--nytimes.com 2006-06-06

[clokwise]

Here's the link to sign up:

http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/try_out.html

And here's some more info:

http://www.google.com/support/spreadsheets

[astral]

There was an article about these products in the latest PC World.

There is a word processor as well.

My only reservation is that these are Web based products, and therefore

mean that you have to be "on line". OK in the broadband world, until

the line goes down!!

I will be staying with Open Office which is free.

I can work when and where I want, as long as I have my trusty notebook with me.

[clokwise]

I will be staying with Open Office which is free.

I can work when and where I want, as long as I have my trusty notebook with me.

I carefully considered OpenOffice, but eventually gave it up. The word processor seems to be no more powerful than MS Word 1.0, and frankly buggier. Same with the spreadsheet. In particular we had heaps of problems moving documents between OO and MS apps. I hope that more people get involved in the project because if there's one thing the world needs it's an MS Office killer. I have been using the free MS Office 2007 beta 2 and it is surprisingly good, and for the first time in several upgrades, actually has some nice new features I would actually use - often. It's just making it that much harder for me to switch to Ubuntu entirely