Man. Google is such a cool name. This is such a lame one:
Google Docs & Spreadsheets is a web-based word-processing and spreadsheet product that makes it easier for people to create, manage, and share documents and spreadsheets online. Google Docs & Spreadsheets integrates Writely and Google Spreadsheets into a single, easy-to-use product that takes an innovative approach to a very specific problem in the productivity-software space: enabling people to manage and collaborate on the documents and spreadsheets they rely on in their personal and professional lives, no matter where they are or when they need to access them.
With Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google is taking a set of important tasks and offering an online solution to completing them individually or with a broader group. With a Google Account, a compatible web browser, and an Internet connection, users will now easily be able to:
— Create documents and spreadsheets, and then manage and access them in a single, secure location
— Easily collaborate with others, online and in real time
— Export to and import from a wide variety of file formats
— Share them with others as view-only
— Publish them to a blog or as an HTML page
Simply put, Google Docs & Spreadsheets is focused on providing users with an innovative and efficient way to create and share information on the Web.
But not a lame idea, certainly. I can’t wait for my visit to Microsoft later this month!
The most obvious potential use I see for services such as this is in the workplace, where there are constantly spreadsheets and documents shared via email or on servers. In fact, I tried earlier this year to use a Google Spreadsheet instead of an Excel sheet living on a server for a shared document. However, the effort was immediately frustrated by the need for ‘Google Accounts’. OK, I have a google account, but it’s not linked to my business email addrss — it’s my personal email address! I also ran into that trying to use GCal to manage a shared calendar. The ‘multiple email addresses for one account’ concept cannot be that far off in Goog-land, but then I’ve been saying that for months and months now.
That being said, I will probably hire on principle the first person who sends me a resume as a read-only link to their Google Doc resume…
I thought this was a great idea, and certainly enjoy the online collobarative features that Google has put together. This is until, of course, I tried uploading a .doc and found my table of contents, along with my pager and header, to be turned into Google Doc Spaghetti.
I totally agree with Dan. Their requirement to log in with your Google account is an annoyance and sometimes, I think , dangerous. For example, if I’m on the road, at somebody else’s or an internet cafe I don’t want to worry about my email login being stolen and used on my Adsense/Adwords accounts… They need to fix their log in requirements!
John,
When are you coming to MSFT? I just want to make sure to hear you speak if this is the case.
My guess is that it’s a placeholder name. They know what they want to call it, but they’re waiting until they complete their full suite of products.
It also seems like they’re testing the water to see how well people like the two applications being combined. It’s an approach that’s similar to AppleWorks and OpenOffice. Personally, I could care less whether they combine them, split them up, whatever…all I want is something that is easy to use and that works well.