Google Labs is showing what’s new at Google with Google Spreadsheets. If you open that page, you will take a sneak peek at Google’s new project
Google Spreadsheets: Google Apps powered by Ajax
This is not yet another Google project that may be added to the already long list of Lab projects (actually, Google’s CEO announced that Google was to refocus on its core search engine business at its latest conference with analysts).
This tool is a new way of using software online and besides, it is collaborative software with a capital C.
As a matter of fact, Google spreadsheets is also a complement to the firm’s earliest acquisition of Writely, a network-based collaborative spreadsheet programme based on Ajax technology (refer to our previous articles on that technology).
Now the question is, besides the compelling novelty of that technology (still to be tested though; click here to sign up) and the fact that it’s slowly but surely becoming mainstream, can that new opportunity clinch it for Google who seems to struggle – according to UK’s Times online dated June 6, 2006 – outside of their core search engine business.
Last but not least, the firm now seems to get entangled in several lawsuits not only in the UK but also in France with a suit filed by leading French publishing company La Martinière (owner of Le Seuil) against the regional and international representatives of Google.
Let us hope that all these people get to agree on common terms without stifling all this exciting innovation in the fields of collaborative and office software platforms.
