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. Google’s spreadsheet isn’t as sophisticated as Excel. For instance, the Google spreadsheet won’t create charts or provide a menu of controls that can be summoned by clicking on a computer mouse’s right-hand button.
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.
Although distributing software over the Internet gives more people greater access to programs, the approach requires trusting a custodian like Google to save and protect the information from unauthorized users.
That’s a leap many security-conscious companies are unwilling to make and something consumers may be reluctant to do amid rising concerns of government snooping.
Google Inc. will introduce the spreadsheet program Tuesday the 6th continuing the Internet search leader’s expansion into territory long dominated by Microsoft Corp.
