Archive for December, 2007
Google spreadsheets useful for estimating? Video demonstration.
Friday, December 14th, 2007
Click here to watch video demonstration! 
Google has built a web application that will allow you to create, save, edit, and share spreadsheets within your web browser. This is much more than a convenient development; what this suggests is that Google acknowledges the increasing demand to shift technology from our computers’ hard drives to web hosts and that they would like to be the forerunner in providing us with this rapidly expanding technology.
In software engineering, a web application is an application delivered to users from a web server over a network such as the World Wide Web or an intranet. Web applications are popular due to the ubiquity of the web browser as a client, sometimes called a thin client. The ability to update and maintain web applications without distributing and installing software on potentially thousands of client computers is a key reason for their popularity. … for more: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WebApp
But without reflecting on what this means with regards to software trends, let’s look at what Google Spreadsheets mean to your business. Here are the pros and cons of developing your spreadsheets online:
Pros:
- You don’t need software! This is a free “Web App”, so the program is run from a web server, not your computer.
- The files can be accessed from any computer. All you need is a web browser with access to the Internet. That means you could start creating a bid on your Google spreadsheet at your office, continue working on it from your home computer, then edit it if necessary on site with your client.
- You can choose who can access and who can edit the spreadsheet. Multiple people can even work on the spreadsheet simultaneously from remote locations!
- You can start your spreadsheet from scratch or upload data from a XLS (Excel) or CSV (Comma Separated Value) file.
Cons:
- The processing speed of entering data into the spreadsheet is limited to the speed of your Internet connection. Your CPU can still take your high-speed modem in head-to-head competition, but this will likely be less of a factor in the future. If you’re still using a modem, Google spreadsheets may get frustrating.
- Although you can implement an impressive collection of formulae, the application isn’t as diverse and powerful as software like Excel, so there are some limitations, particularly if you’re an advanced user.
- You’re required to create a gmail account (free).
-Nolan Orfield
Posted in General, Technology | 3 Comments »