Google Spreadsheets

Garett Rodgers from ZDnet is expressing doubt over Google's new spreadsheets service. And rightly so.

Google thinks that they can kill Microsoft Excel instantly with this service? Do you think Microsoft is scared? Microsoft has so much money and Bill Gates is the richest man in the world. Why does Google even try? Don't you think Bill would have funded an online spreadsheet already if that was the way to go? You have to pay for good software. You also have to wait a few years to get bug fixes. How else can you rely on your software to work? You think it works on a first release? One indicator that Google's service will fail is that it is fun to use. Real software that you can count on just isn't fun. Software isn't supoose to be fun.

You and I know that eventually Google will place a small text ad on the side of your spreadsheet: right next to your data! I don't know about you, but I can't stand those little annoying text ads. They're like little text viruses infecting every webpage in the world. They could infect your data. The ads I prefer are large header ads. Orange and blue pictures of corporate professionals dressed and happy in the work place. Those at least make me feel safe. Like how I feel when I'm drinking coffee @ Starbucks.

I also agree with Rodgers when he points out that a weak point of Google Spreadsheets is going to be that it's too simple. People who use spreadsheets love to use Excel. Most people don't have uses for simple spreadsheets. What would you put in one? Financial data? Your music collection? World Cup statistics?

Everyone should just use a Microsoft Word .doc so that everyone can read it (make sure you install the correct Office Compatibility Pack). Two obvious reasons why Google Spreadsheets will fail: for one, it takes a lot of R&D to create wizards like Microsoft's Clippy™ and two, people want spreadsheets that let you add page numbers to every other odd page in rotating corners.