Just getting my day started, and in doing so noticed a new “Spreadsheets” link on the top left hand side “Menu Bar” contained inside the Gmail interface. Out of curiosity I clicked and found what seems to be a pretty slick little personal spreadsheet tool,
I have a tendency to discredit folks who make attempt at building hosted applications intended for use within web browsers, and this hasn’t changed. But when it comes to Google, I have to keep reminding myself that,
a) Google’s got *BIG TIME* cash.
b) Google’s got *BIG TIME* bandwidth
c) Google’s got Adam Bosworth, Peter Norvig, Guido von Rossum and a list of folks just like these same mentioned folks that runs for *MILES*.[1]
I still adamantly insist that browser-based applications will never be enabled to offer a reasonable user experience for anything other than lightweight document editing, and even further, believe that these same companies need to find a way to allow the ability to use this same software without the need for an Internet connection (using a local (users machine) server instance).
However, when you have folks like the above on your side, and in particular Adam Bosworth (who, among other things was the brain power behind the development of IE4, and Microsoft Access back when Access took the world by storm due to is (at the time) revolutionary new approach that enabled the “little guy” to develop powerful database applications quickly and efficiently, and could redistribute these same apps with a royalty free runtime. Not to discredit or suggest that any of these other mentioned folks don’t have similar resumes, or that their accomplishments are any less significant. But in particular to the Spreadsheet application, when you have the level of experience with Browser development and consumer level DB development (even though a spreadsheet is not technically a DB, the similarities should be fairly obvious) in which AB has (that said, who knows if AB has even touched the code base, or been involved with this project in *ANY WAY*), you have to at very least provide room for the fact that Google has someone on their side who just happens to know a thing or two about developing applications that (quite literally) take over the consumer market, to never look back again.
Thats something pretty significant when you think about it.
Here’s a snippet and link to the Spreadsheets “Sneak Peek”,
Google Spreadsheets - Sneak Peek
Creating spreadsheets
Create basic spreadsheets from scratch.
You can start from scratch and do all the basics, including changing the number format, sorting by columns, and adding formulas.Upload your spreadsheet files.
Upload spreadsheets or worksheets from CSV or XLS format - all your formulas and formatting will come across intact.Familiar desktop feel makes editing a breeze.
Just click the toolbar buttons to bold, underline, change the font, change the cell background color and more.
If nothing else, I’d say interesting times are ahead, and at very least, this should be a lot of fun to watch things unfold in this space. :)
Enjoy your morning! :D
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[1] That said, Microsoft, IBM, Sun, Amazon, Yahoo, and LOTS of other companies do too… and to be fair, the list of of some of the bigger companies on this mentioned list runs for several hundred miles.)
Hi, David. I wrote a blog on this a while back, and it engendered some interesting discussion...
Hi David,
Thanks for taking the time to comment! I am downloading JavaDB as we speak.
I agree 100% with your point regarding the need for the data to reside locally. In fact, even beyond the privacy issue (which is obviously of SIGNIFICANT concern), I feel that hosted applications and related data is a recipe for disaster like none other. See http://www.oreillynet.com/xml/blog/2006/05/maintaining_netneutrality_by_d_1.html for more details.
Directly related to your point regarding data residing locally, see [1,2]
[1] http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2006/05/google_in_a_nutshell_or_google.html#comment-29344
[2] http://www.oreillynet.com/mac/blog/2006/05/google_in_a_nutshell_or_google.html#comment-29552
BTW... I see several mentions of Ajax-enabled apps that use JavaDB -- If you happen to read this follow-up would you mind pointing me to one or two of them that you feel best represent some of potential uses for this combination?
Thanks in advance!
Then read this article about AOL data and start to think about online services.
@karl,
Isn't that just NUTTS! While I recognize this as a mistake that was obviously just that -- a mistake -- it helps re-emphasize the idea that the data that we generate, collect, and in many cases, create, should never be stored (from a *PRIMARY* storage provider standpoint) ANYWHERE other than our own devices in which we maintain control FULL control over. For sake of convenience, projects such as GDrive, LiveDrive, or any of the extensive number of backup services make sense. But in cases such as this, this data needs to be encrypted with a public/private keypair that we generate, and we keep control over -- this would ensure that the benefits that would come with services such as those mentioned above could be just that -- benefits, but without the risk of these benefits running risk of *ANY* level of privacy "leaks".
There are absolutely no advantages that are gained by potential suitors such as these same mentioned folks that would provide them any level of competitive advantage by acting as the primary hosting facilitator for our data. The benefits come from the ability to be able to share our data with folks that *WE CHOOSE* to share this data with, without running the risks involved with hosting this same data via a publicly accessible folder on our own machines, even if that same folder invoked security measures to ensure that we could control who had access, and who doesn't.
The larger companies such as Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and Yahoo have the ability to invest heavily into systems in which are MUCH MORE secure than opening up our own machines to serve up this same data -- This is the value they provide, while also providing MUCH LARGER pipes that are able to handle the loads placed on them, while at the same time dealing with things such as DOS attacks in a way that would make such attacks, for all intents and purposes, useless.
Theres a TON of value in this type of scenario, without the need to maintain control over the data itself -- we can do that; maintain a local copy, rsync (or equivalent) the encrypted data to their system, and then provide access to this data via sharing our public keys with those in whom we are desires to share these keys with, which, of course, would include sharing these keys with our various devices in which we would like to access this data from.
In fact, this very topic needs a new post to bring a lot of this to the surface, as their is simply too much at stake here for this information not to be propogated, and discussed, such that the potential suitors to the mentioned services will understand just what it is in which we have interest in them providing for us, and just what it is that we do not.
My day is quickly coming to a close, and I have a project I need to finish and get posted, but I will add this post to the top of my list for this weekend -- would make a nice discussion to begin next week with :D
Thanks for taking the time to comment!
The main purpose I think about Google Spreadsheets is to be able to share your work and collaborate with others, or to be able to access your work anywhere. Why would you want to use Google Spreadsheets if not for those benefits? It would be the same as Microsoft Excel, or OpenOffice.org Calc, except that its browser-based, and inferior in comparison.
If you merely want a portable spreadsheet application, I suggest looking into Portable OpenOffice.org, which you can run from a 256MB USB flash drive.
I agree with James Hales. I've set myself up with Google Spreadsheets, and I intend to use it, but not as my main spreadsheet app. The main advantage for me is the ability to publish directly to the web. No other spreadsheet app offers that capability - uploading spreadsheet files just doesn't come close.
I'm going to be very interested to see what mashups people come up with that use Google Spreadsheets. I don't even know if this is possible without an API, but it's all javascript isn't it? Surely it must be possible to automate access to the sheets.
Simon Hibbs
When I first saw the spreads a couple of months ago I thought Google were crazy - why replicate fat client functionality on a browser. Then I found I was using it all the time instead of Excel.
The other day I saw a support request at work - how do you make your changes in a shared workbook automatically get updated to other users - I realised this is basic Google Spreadsheets functionality that Excel doesn't have. I'll be interested to see whether they try to extend it to bring in macros etc.