Google Fatigue Sets In

Technology Review ^ | June 13, 2006 | Wade Roush

[george76]

Users are reacting to Google's new online spreadsheet with a big yawn. Is the company searching for a strategy?...

Can there be too much of a good thing? Some Google watchers are beginning to think so.

Leading technology bloggers' reactions to Google Spreadsheets, which allows users to build and share simple Excel-like spreadsheets on line, have ranged from lukewarm to hostile.

Critics are assailing Google's latest offering for having several technical weaknesses.

And, more significantly, they're beginning to question whether Google's long-term strategy in the arena of Web-based software applications is good for the company, for users, and for the Web.

"When is the last time Google released a product that really changed our lives?" asked Michael Arrington...

unlike Microsoft Excel, Google Spreadsheets can't create charts and graphs, and it lacks some of Excel's mathematical capabilities, such as array multiplication.

"It's not an Excel killer," writes Computerworld columnist Richard Ericson. "If you're a financial analyst responsible for consolidating large budget spreadsheets, you're not going to adopt Google Spreadsheets.

Need a chart? Stick with Excel. Ditto for graphics (such as WordArt) or PivotTables."

[stuck_in_new_orleans]

This is a load of crap. Google has some of the best software on the web.

such as?

[Critical Bill]

"How does Google make money"

Advertising

[Philistone]

Not at all. I actually used the phrase "Google fatigue" in a conference call last week.

Google has jumped the shark.

[mgstarr]

Do you seriuously believe this will be upheld? I think not.

They can claim whatever they like but it comes down to the law.

[Glenmerle]

Google is evil - or at least it's founders are.

I agree. I switched to dogpile.com for my searches.

[kingu]

You need to fire your IT guys. Spam can easily be filtered on any email system, yes even Microsoft Exchange. We use Exchange and after I purchased and installed Brightmail, our rate of spam hitting the Inbox dropped significantly.

Absolutely, fired the folks who maintained our servers when we no longer had any need for them anymore. We've had a 98% reduction in spam in the inbox and four false positives out of 193,000 e-mails (last month's statistics.) We use Gmail's POP interface to download then delete our e-mail off of their system (like anything is ever deleted off their mines..)

Aside from the five minutes to set everything up, and an hour or two a week for the first couple weeks ensuring we didn't get false positives on the spam filter, it has been pure and absolute pleasure. If tomorrow Google popped up with a demand for payment for future services, I'd gladly fork over the dough.

Someone else disliked the gmail interface - no need to use it. Set up your favorite e-mail program and use it instead.

[stripes1776]

Like the Neanderthal, Netscape was out-evolved by another line of descent.. Firefox..

I see, Firefox is now the univeral desktop with all the web-based applications.

[A CA Guy]

Hi George,

I wanted to check out the Google spreadsheets, so I googled the words "spread sheets" and I can't tell you what popped up.

[isom35]

I'm looking forward to TSG (Talking Sentient Google) so that I can argue with it.

[DesScorp]

"such as?"

Gmail, Google Talk, Google Maps, Blogger, Google Calender, Picasa...the list goes on. Their toolbar for IE is the best for that browser, their customized homepages beat the crap out of anything MSN or Yahoo can do, their usenet web interface (Google Groups) is a Godsend if you need to scan newsgroups. And face it, they still have the best search engine in the business.

[SandwicheGuy]

What price are you shorting at?

I dunno what he is shorting at, but this is what you can do now....

PUT OPTIONS Expire at close Fri, Jul 21, 2006

Strike Symbol Last Chg Bid Ask Vol Open Int

230.00 GOUSF.X 0.05 0.00 N/A N/A 22 373

That is $50 to control a thousand shares... 'Course the price of Google would have to really crash, but it it did, you would be able to buy some nice things.

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Goggle is a left-wing left-coast operation and no friend of freedom. Conservatism isn't capitalism isn't commercialism and ain't Goggle. SCROOM Tagline...

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Yep, here's Goggle's customer. "Goggle rocks!" is an advertisement for thoughtlessness like "It's for the chilldruun."

[dhuffman@awod.com]

Pandering to d'masses in the demotic masses.

[killjoy]

Gmail, Google Talk, Google Maps, Blogger, Google Calender, Picasa...the list goes on.

You didn't mention Google Analytics which is one of the best things that ever happened to web developers and webmasters.

The ability to do conversions and math on google is also a godsend. If you have never used it, try typing, "1 meter in nautical miles" or "sin 54 * 4" into google. It will automatically do the calculations for you. Incredibly useful.

[G.Mason]

"Google is evil - or at least it's founders are."

" I agree. I switched to dogpile.com for my searches."

Absolutely brilliant!

And what is the first search engine that Dogpile uses for searches?

[DesScorp]

"Goggle is a left-wing left-coast operation and no friend of freedom."

If that's your criteria for using software, you're sh!t out of luck. ALL software companies are run by leftists. Michael Dell is the only guy in computing that's GOP-friendly. Bill Gates is a Democrat. His father is fighting for a return of the Death Tax on "fairness" grounds. Yahoo is based on the left coast. So is HP. Only IBM is based in NY, and are you going to say they're a "conservative friend of freedom"?

I suppose you could always go back to using the telegraph...

[Psycho_Bunny]

Google's jumped the shark.

[george76]

[george76]