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Inside Google Spreadsheets (Video)

blog.outer-court.com — If you haven't received your invite yet but you want to know the look & feel of Google Spreadsheets, take a look at the screenshots and videos.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jun 6, 2006

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  • BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -8/+30This thing can barely compete with numsum.com, let alone Excel.

    I exported my Google AdSense revenue in CSV format and gSpreads can't open it. I had a good laugh over that.
  • PirateFSM, on 10/12/2007, -4/+21Is that the new "Does it work on Linux?" around here?
  • novaneil, on 10/12/2007, -6/+21Will this be available on the Wii?
  • ChanKaiShi, on 10/12/2007, -3/+17Sharepoint does not allow you to edit the same document with other people at the same time.
  • tracerrx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+14I received my invite today, and after playing around with it for a couple minutes this is really cool. Works just like OO or Excel. It even imported a relatively complicated excel file rather effortlessly. Definitely worth signing up for an invite. But do you really want Google knowing the content of some of your excel spreed sheets?
  • carguy84, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15You have it reversed, this is G's response to MSFT's Sharepoint.
  • cliffzdude, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14If Excel is a Honda, this is a tricycle. I LOVE google, I am a gmail fanatic, I live by google's searches, I'm a true fan of Google's stuff. But... This thing is a solution in search of a problem.

    Color me underwhelmed.
  • ascheinberg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+11This is a very cool app, but I've noticed on 3 different spreadsheets I've uploaded that although the data is there, it doesn't display anything past row 26. When downloaded as XLS or CSV, the data and formatting is intact, but it won't render to screen.

    Also, there is a limit of 44 rows per spreadsheet right now.
  • joeyjojo, on 10/12/2007, -5/+15sharepoint should never be an answer to anything. ;o)
  • deadbaby, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Microsoft's response is "Hey give us a lot of money for SharePoint & Office"

  • carguy84, on 10/12/2007, -8/+16Uhhh Sharepoint?


    unless I missed your sarcasm, then I apologize.
  • BloodJunkie, on 10/12/2007, -4/+12Excel has collaboration features.
  • nfiedel, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8Many people are complaining that this is not as advanced as Excel, or Open Office. At least for those of you comparing to Excel, you forget to compare (a) the price, (b) the networked features. Others seem to question how Google can make money off of this.

    Let me recall the last 4 significant spreadsheets I've created / edited in my personal life. These are real examples, from the past 2-3 years.

    1. Wedding Planning / Budget
    2. Wedding Guest List
    3. Joint Finances with Wife
    4. Home Buying Financial Calculations (i.e. how much can we afford, etc...).

    Not sure how many people reading digg know this, but the wedding industry spends a massive amount on advertising. I'm sure there were a few dozen keywords in spreadsheet #1 worth $1/click. The guest list would probably not have as much, but perhaps ads for local services (airport shuttles, city events, hotels, etc...) The third and fourth spreadsheets easily contained many keywords I'm sure are worth high costs-per-click. Mortgage, Salary, Job, Inflation, Home Equity Line, Condo vs House, etc... These are just words floating around that spreadsheet.

    Now on to the network capabilities. We would have used *both* the network storage and accessibility *and* the sharing capabilities. Do you have any idea how tough it is to edit a seating chart with four parents and the happy couple? We spent weeks emailing around excel spreadsheets, which often got horribly edited by an unnamed family member. As for accessibility, how about when someone would call me up in the middle of the day with a price quote on a wedding service? In the middle of the work-day, I simply wouldn't have downloaded the spreadsheet, edited it, and uploaded it again. With this new service, I could simply launch it in my browser, add the quote, and quit.

    Can't wait for the sign-up...
  • macewan, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8sharepoint cost money doesn't it? also, it's limited to the windows platform.
  • eleven, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Just think about the occasional mom and pop type users who could use this - instead of buying Excel or Office, which probably costs more than their computer. Those people combined with people interested in the collaborative features are reason enough for MSFT to be a little nervious.

    Google is gaining some serious positive mindshare with all these tools. Gmail, Calendar, Writely, Pages and now Spreadsheets... All they would need is a PPT competitor and they have created what is essentially an office suite online.

    Its just too bad it's $400 a share!
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -4/+11I've just got one question, is there ANY industry segment that Google hasn't thrown a half-assed beta at?

    I mean literally. Name a single piece of software that google hasn't tried to copy and slap ads on.

    It seems every time their stock drops they throw something else out the door to keep the fanbois distracted while their execs keep selling hundreds of millions of dollars in google stock.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6yeah, sure, show us what you done, you know, your skills deserve this homepage

    /waiting the next killer application from akirakurosawa
  • Subcranium, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7I hope it's not someone else's primary email address.
  • matthewaaron, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Ok, for all of you complaining about this, consider that this is; 1) not something you have paid anything for; 2) still in Beta or pre-beta or whatever; 3) most Google Beta products have far fewer bugs in them than most MS post beta software that we pay for; 4) as with most Google Beta software, this is probably only a small sampling of the features that will eventually be incorporated into it. Hopefully they are planning to eventually let you add borders but I'm not throwing a fit because it's not in there RIGHT NOW. The way Google releases software is the way I wish everyone released software. They don't release things in their full glory so that users become instantly dependant on them, instead, they relase a very testable, very usable version in order work out as many bugs as possible before its complete stability becomes mission critical to the average user. Indeed, this is just a toy for now, but it sheds light on a future of computing over the internet that is really cool. So please consider that when you are using this release.
  • joeyjojo, on 10/12/2007, -3/+8"MS has Sharepoint, wake up."

    And have you ever purchased a server, licensed the software, installed, and configured Sharepoint?

    For most folks that want to collaboratively work on a spreadsheet, going to google.com will be a HELL of a lot cheaper and easier than dealing with a Sharepoint install.

    There simply is no comparison. These are entirely different markets. The only difference is that I can see something like google's product eating away at MS market share. I don't see sharepoint eating away at google's market.
  • Elxx, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5"...most Google Beta products have far fewer bugs in them than most MS post beta software that we pay for..."

    Sad, but true.
  • illuminus, on 10/12/2007, -1/+6I think I'll be using this on our next DnD game. Were practically paperless as it is, but this should streamline combat even more.

    Who says spreadsheets need to be used only for legitimate business purposes?
  • saska, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5You're going to track your finances on the web from an Internet cafe?

    I know this guy in Nigeria who needs some help moving cash around... sounds like you two should hook up.
  • ChanKaiShi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I don't beleive people can invite you, they can invite you to share a document with you but not invite you to use the service. You need to sing up for invititation yourself via posted URL in previous Digg on this subject.
  • h00ligan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4sharepoint does a ton more.. do any of you actually WORK In the corporate world?
  • BlueLaser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It's not so much needing a "quick" spreadsheet as it is needing a spreadsheet you can easily share with a group.

    Good examples include a simple bug tracking spread sheet for a group of programmers, a sports team practice/game schedule, or any other application where sharing organized information is the goal.

    These online spreadsheets will likely never be as -powerful- as Excel (with the ability to run macros and very complex functions), but they are much -easier- to create and share.
  • BlueLaser, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Or it could also just be a good distraction technique in the fight against MS. Google knows that Spreadsheets isn't the best online spreadsheet tool (Office Live by MS has arguably better tools for that), but it creates one more "front" that Microsoft will be compelled to fight Google on.

    If Google can remain silently focused on improving the products it does well (such as search and online email) while taking MS's attention off of those products with things like Spreadsheets and Writely, they'll have an even better chance at beating MS in the space that matters to Google- the applications that actually -make- money.

    The trick for Google will be not getting too distracted themselves with all of these "neat" products whilst their search results get less relevant and their email app never leaves beta.
  • Subcranium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I sure Google is quickly fixing the bugs that are reported. I was pretty excited to try it out, but I'm 0 for 2 on importing spreadsheets (meaningful ones--not little "test" ones). I'll try again next week.
  • ChanKaiShi, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I find online collaboration pretty usefull when discussing project requirements for example when both people need to chat and collaborate on the same document at the same time. Current enviroment is offline composing of Word file, send via email to other person, chat with him, he sends me back, then I make changes and I send email back to him while both of us still online. Sharepoint does make it a little easier but still requires offline editing and releasing document, plus at this point I don't know any free Sharepoint websites outthere. Google writely will be a saviour for me.
  • altcountryman, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5haven't seen Google pr0n yet.
  • armbar, on 10/12/2007, -4/+7If anyone wants to go straight to the invite/login, go to http://spreadsheets.google.com/
  • caser85, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5This is great. My wife and I track our finances with excel. I travel a lot, so this will be a handy way to bring up our finances and edit everything while I'm on the road... rather than emailing a spreadsheet back and forth.
  • zentro, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Uhm, Windows Sharepoint Services is free. Sharepoint Portal Server costs a bit but you can do loads with WSS alone...
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Btw how does this make any money for Google?

    Are they planning to show ads alongside your spreadsheet tables? Maybe detect what you are tabulating, and then try and give targeted commercials?

    Seriously- WTF is this about?
  • macewan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3which leads to money down the line.
  • ascheinberg, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Ok, the limit is apparently not a real limit, but one I experienced with two files. I've filed a bug report. Maybe a problem with my spreadsheets?
  • mgoddard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3This looks neat, but for usefulness it leaves a lot to be desired. The only added feature I see is allowing other people to view and chat for collaboration purposes. The rest seems buggy (see when the user selects 3 of the rows, then sorts them and it sorts all 4?).

    I can't think of the times I require a "quick" spreadsheet that needs to be viewed by multiple people and when Excel isn't available.
  • mgoddard, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You believe programmers are going to track their software bugs through this method? I also really don't see an entire sports team posting a schedule like this. Shared data I understand and totally agree with but I think people are going to want to do that through HTML like they have been for ever. In fact, this is using HTML with a nice preformed table structure inside.

    If Google made a nice front end for user authentication so I could decide which users could view my pages I think that would result in the same thing we have here.
  • kurtergad87, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Google might not make money from this directly, but it does fit into their overall goals. It diminishes the importance of the OS which is bad for Microsoft, it improves the Google brand and if integrated with services such as Gmail and Calendar, it might secure core customers to the search/ads-market that is otherwise very fleeting.

    EDIT: Seems BlueLaser beat me in both quality and speed. :)
  • kaplanfx, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@bluelaser you need to use the link that google sent to you in your email address. spreadsheets.google.com is not up yet, they send you a long url with some info that looks like its telling the site you have been properly invited before giving you the login page.
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I've tried it with a friend, very impressive.

    I just need it.
    and plus, you can play naval battle on it with your buds
  • karch, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4MULTIPLAYER NOTEPAD!
  • Subcranium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3My third try--the simplest spreadsheet I have--a big file of stock data. No formulas. I tried to go into Excel, copy all, and then paste into Google Spreadsheet. Oops! You can't copy that much text.

    Arrgh! I'm thinking "toy."

    Surely, I'll be able to get ONE of my spreadsheets wedged into this thing!
  • kenkuhl, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4ahhh... the video will help abate my anxiety over not receiving my GSpreadsheet invite yet! Thanks!
  • FederalSource, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4@Dan100

    Two or three people simultaneously researching information for a project. Instead of having three separate excel sheets and merging, you are creating one file.

    Even in an office with excel, you could do the research in Google and then save as XLS. I wouldn't even consider using Google for data, right off the bat I noticed there are no Pivot tables or any advanced features. Although it does have lookups.
  • Superkid, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Yea i think its alright, but i dint see the practicality. There is at least 3 better spreadsheets on line right now, think free office - java based if i remember correctly, and museum. Numsum is actually pretty good i just gave it a try, very responsive in terms of scrolling, and resizing columns and rows, the google spreadsheet is sort of laggy, or maybe its my computer. Thinkfree is ridiculously similar to excel, but its pretty buggy, lost a couple files and never went back.

    What sort of business model is google going for here, ad sense in D9 - D112?? I personally think this is more of a psychological attack on Microsoft than anything else. Does it make bar graphs, pie charts and other pretty things?....umm i dunno about y'all but i use spreadsheets to make charts, not just to organize numbers in columns.

    The majority of us have probably used it as much as we ever will...lol...just a lets see what google has done now sorta thing. It was a great 10 or so minutes of fun. And this collaboration crap...please ill just stick to my send it over the I'm or email it approach. Honestly with the new excel, i don't know how someone can compete. Even though its made by Microsoft, its literally perfect, do you really need anything else.

    Those that cant afford ms office, hmmm i dunno, how about you torrent it....legally of course...lol

    Peace
  • BlueLaser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Just to clarify (since you obviously missed the point), by "sports team" I was referring to your Little League variety.

    They do, in fact, use simple Excel spreadsheets all the time to create practice and game schedules. Now coaches can upload those schedules to an interface that is easy-as-Google and players can check the site for changes (on a rainy game day, for example).

    Putting something together with just HTML can be done, but if you want table formatted data anyway, why force inexperienced web users to figure out HTML tables when online spreadsheet apps exist?
  • muddo, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Exactly. Its a spreadsheet served from a web server. Amazing... cvs/subversion solved the file synchronization problem eons ago. I guess people need the pretty packaging to learn about technology.
  • BlueLaser, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Thanks kaplanfx.

    Unfortunately, I've been trying that link all morning and it always times-out. Maybe it's my work computer. Maybe it's the Google ServerLogin for Spreadsheets. Either way, I was hoping there was another way to login since the email link doesn't seem to be working. Does it work for others?

    https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=wise&passive=true&nui=1&continue=http%3A%2F%2Fspreadsheets.google.com<mpl=invited-google
  • inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2"Beta should not be a substitute for good QA process but Google seems to be forgetting this lately."

    Don't tell that to an MS fanboy using Vista, or they loose their only defense on why vista sucks.
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