Google made another announcement about tying in their Docs & Spreadsheets online applications with Google Apps for Your Domain (story). Since Google detractors claim the applications are too weak to be useful, let me revisit the question of how much application horsepower most people need. I say “not much.” During speeches, I ask how many in the audience have created a text document with multiple columns, or headers and footers, in the last month. About 10 to 15 percent of the people raise their hands every time. A few more will join in if I extend the time period back six months, but I never see 20 percent of the attendees raise their hands. Either you regularly create complex documents, or you don’t. The same goes for spreadsheets. Most people use spreadsheets casually, with a few rows and a few column sums and a few arithmetical calculations. Real spreadsheet fans, again less than
20 percent according to my surveys, create complex sheets with serious financial calculations. At least 80 percent of computer users in small and medium businesses get by quite well with a level of word processor provided by their e-mail client. Some bold print, some tabs, and spellcheck does the trick. That’s the sweet spot Google Docs & Spreadsheets hits: casual, not complex, application use. Microsoft vanquished WordPerfect and seems to keep OpenOffice at bay, but I don’t know if they can stop people from trying Google in lieu of upgrading to Office 2007 this year.
