[PSL-Brasil] Google Launches Online Spreadsheet System

[Nelson Ferraz]

O Google acaba de lançar uma planilha online -- e, com isso, invadir um 
pouco mais do espaço da Microsoft.

Although it's still considered a work in progress, Google's online 
spreadsheet will offer consumers and businesses a free alternative to 
Microsoft's Excel application -- a product typically sold as part of the 
Office software suite that has been a steady moneymaker for years.

Google Spreadsheets has more than 200 functions, including data sorting 
and the ability to search cells for certain information. The product 
doesn't offer features in Office such as charts or small programs known 
as macros that automate tasks.

Rochelle said the program's main goal is to make it easier for family, 
friends or co-workers to gain access to the same spreadsheet from 
different computers at different times, enabling a group of authorized 
users to add and edit data without having to e-mail attachments back and 
forth.

Google is targeting Office, which generated $2.95 billion in sales and 
$2.09 billion in profit in Microsoft's third quarter ended March 31. 
Microsoft plans a new release this year and is trying to get Office into 
more consumers' hands at a cheaper price while persuading businesses to 
buy higher-priced versions.

"What's taking Google so long?" asked Alan Yates, Microsoft's general 
manager for information worker business strategy.

"We've expected this for a long time, and it's nothing new. We've run up 
against competition that various people have touted as free or Web-based 
over and over and we're still doing quite well," Yates said.

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/272845_google06.html

http://www.google.com/googlespreadsheets/tour1.html

Isto acontece ao mesmo tempo em que a Microsoft tenta negociar com a 
Adobe o direito de salvar documentos em PDF -- coisa que o OpenOffice já 
faz há tempos. Ou seja: é pressão de todos os lados.

-- 
Nelson Corrêa de Toledo Ferraz

Segula Technologies (www.segula.fr)
Free Software Foundation Associate Member #3203
Sociedade Perl do Brasil (www.perl.org.br)
Rede Livre de Compartilhamento de Cultura Digital