1. Jun 6th, 2006

    Google Spreadsheet

    I remember the first time I got to use a spreadsheet. It was VisiCalc (and then Multiplan). And it struck me as a better way to deal with a lot of numbers. It was a fancy calculator, great for doing finances, statistics and my all time favorite: how much will this really cost me? (aka future value, but I didn’t know it quite then)

    I remember the second time I got to use a spreadsheet. It was Excel for Windows 3.1. This wasn’t just your father’s VisiCalc, you could actually build applications with it. And I did. My first one was an homework assignment to build a movie catalog (not creative, I know), and a month later a business plan template. You plug in the numbers and it will calculate ROI, do graphs and show you the break even date.

    Ever since I haven’t used spreadsheets that much. Occassionally I would pull it off the dusty shelf to run some statistics or do some financial calculations. And I do get the occassional e-mail with Excel attachment. The last two were a spreadsheet of sales numbers, and a questioneer.

    For all it’s might and power, Excel is most often used as a lightweight database with a simple (no development required) data entry UI, and easy way to sort, filter and calculate data. And e-mailing it around is easier than setting up a one-off Web app.

    Which is exactly Google Spreadsheet’s sweet spot.

    It’s a lightweight spreadsheet. Forget about building complex applications, data mining sales reports, or managing your corporate finances. There’s still no replacement for Excel, and Google doesn’t even try.

    But when you’re doing simple tables, common calculations, data entry and moving data around, it beats Excel. It takes less time to open up, the UI is simple to understand and use, and it’s all about collaboration. You can easily share those spreadsheets, and judging from the screenshots (I’ve yet to try that), even chat while editing them.

    For collaboration it’s a killer app.

    There’s a few kinks in the UI, it could use some polish. But hey, it’s just the first release. What I tried so far works exactly like I expected it to. I tried clicking a cell and then shift+clicking the other, and it recognize the row and added it to the sum formula.

    For basic stuff, it just works. Will it kill Excel? Probably not. Old habits die hard. But it certainly shows that Microsoft is on the wrong end of the 80/20 rule. And it’s hard to argue with something that just works and doesn’t cost a penny.

    Update: I wasn’t clear on context, so let me clarify (also see my comment here).

    Excel is a full featured product that’s impossible to duplicate on the Web. I don’t see any company doing that, and I don’t see any immediate threat to Excel.

    MS Office is a different story. It’s a suite because most people won’t buy the individual pieces, they just don’t need all these applications all the time. But once everybody uses it, the killer app for buying (or “borrowing”) MS Office is its import/export capability. Documents, spreadsheets and presentations have more value when you can share them with others.

    Web 2.0 is disrupting this power balance. MS Office is a walled garden approach to software, and Web 2.0 services are opening it up. They don’t disrupt the 20% of the market that needs the category leader, Excel being one of them. But it disrupts the 80% of the occassional use market.

    But look at the upside. The Web office will seriously curtail piracy of Microsoft products, better than they could ever hope for.

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    1. Jun 6th, 2006

      IT|Redux » What Google Spreadsheets Means

      [...] Today, the blogosphere is buzzing about the release of Google Spreadsheets, an Office 2.0 alternative to Microsoft Excel. Assaf Arkin and Nick Carr have great articles on the subject. They both share the same idea: Google Spreadsheets is not a replacement for Microsoft Excel, it’s a complement. Even though they both have valid points, I tend to disagree with their conclusions. [...]

    2. Jun 7th, 2006

      saurab

      guess this is not about competing directly with microsoft excel, but more about a quick online spreadsheet collaboration tool that doesnt require downloading any software, doesnt require that you email spreadsheets back and forth because you can work on them together with your project team members, doesnt involve any licensing issues, can work from any computer … even those that dont have a spreadsheet app installed, and best of all would probably be integrated with other services such as google calendar (let’s hope so) as it rolls out of beta.

      this is a complementary service rather than a competitive offering. It still isnt feature complete… for instance it doesnt have charting capabilities, but I guess they have that on their list of things to do.

      over all, not a bad product at all.

    3. Jun 7th, 2006

      Assaf

      Apparently I wasn’t clear on the context, so I updated the post to clarify:

      Excel is a full featured product that’s impossible to duplicate on the Web. I don’t see any company doing that, and I don’t see any immediate threat to Excel.

      MS Office is a different story. It’s a suite because most people won’t buy the individual pieces, they just don’t need all these applications all the time. But once everybody uses it, the killer app for buying (or “borrowing”) MS Office is its import/export capability. Documents, spreadsheets and presentations have more value when you can share them with others.

      Web 2.0 is disrupting this power balance. MS Office is a walled garden approach to software, and Web 2.0 services are opening it up. They don’t disrupt the 20% of the market that needs the category leader, Excel being one of them. But it disrupts the 80% of the occassional use market.

      But look at the upside. The Web office will seriously curtail piracy of Microsoft products, better than they could ever hope for.

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