Google has updated its interface for their Docs & Spreadsheets application. Besides the visual improvements, they’ve also “replaced” tags with folders, and added a “Google Suggest” function to the search box, that finds matches as you type. (Neat!)

While some may consider the move from tags back to folders a step backwards, the change is really superficial - under the hood, it’s still the same old tagging system. The only difference is how most users will interpret it.

The old ways

As TechCrunch indicates, there are still many people who prefer the traditional folder model over the tagging model. Tagging is a more recent phenomenon, made popular by sites like Del.icio.us at the growing crowd of “Web 2.0″ sites. Most people are familiar with folders for organization, since it’s a feature the user would have gotten used to in using a computer’s file system. Even though tags, (or “labels”, as Google calls them) are preferred by some, including myself, clearly Google has had research indicate to them that folders would work well for more people.

However, the change to folders wasn’t really a total overhaul - as you can tell from this quote from their announcement:

Even cooler, our new folders continue to work like the tags they’ve replaced - your old tags are automatically converted to folders and documents can live in more than one folder at a time.

This is confirmed by using the new Docs & Spreadsheets - though the icons look like folders, they can be made to behave like tags. They’ve tried to make some aspects like traditional folders; for example, when you’re in folder view and you drag a file to another folder, it is “moved” to that new folder - but what’s really happened is that the first folder/tag is dropped, and replaced by the new one. (In the “All Items” view, dragging an item to a folder merely adds the item to the new folder, without removing it from other folders it was in - just like tagging)

Folders in the application do not operate in the traditional sense, since you cannot create sub-folders, at least not at present. (I got a “server error” when trying to move a folder into another one) This betrays the true nature of the folders - they’re just tags in folder’s clothing. The interface has merely been re-designed to promote a folder-centric view of tags.

This isn’t something I’m against, as since I’ve indicated I prefer tags over folders. In fact, I think that this is a good move for Google, since they can accommodate both types of users - those who prefer the old folder organization, and those who prefer organization by tags. The present system gives a good illusion of folders (albeit without sub-folder support), but can easily be made to work as a tagging system. Some have also speculated that this change could be a harbinger of things to come for Gmail. Perhaps they’re rolling out this system to see how it does with the smaller Docs & Spreadsheets crowd before moving it into big-time action with the Gmail userbase.

Pretty sights

The visual side of the interface has also been given a facelift. With this, it looks and operates more like a traditional desktop application. This contrast with Google’s approach to Gmail, and resembles more Yahoo!’s approach to their mail client. Could this be another indication of Google wanting to make interface changes to Gmail, perhaps making it more like a desktop mail client in order to compete with Yahoo! Mail better? They’ve certainly done a good job with Docs & Spreadsheets, as the interface is pretty but not overdone. Furthermore, the “Back” button functionality is not broken and drag & drop works like a charm

One improvement they could make would be taken from Gmail’s interface - allow adding of items to folders/tags on-the-fly, without having to create the folder beforehand.

Security and Privacy concerns

Docs & Spreadsheets is undoubtedly very useful for collaboration across distances, or really for any project work in general. The prospect of no longer having to physically bring files between computers using sneakernet is a compelling enough reason, and I believe most people, especially students, would use this service, so as long as they knew about it. (I still think Google has to get out more knowledge of this service)

However, I’m less excited about this service when it comes to business use. So far, companies have been reluctant to store sensitive information with third parties, and for good reason - you may just never know who has access to your data, and furthermore, the risks of data loss may not be known. For personal use, these concerns also have merit. For businesses, something like Google Apps Premier Edition, a paid service with guarantees, would probably be better. Some of their services may even allow you to host the data behind your firewall.

A competitor to Microsoft Office?

While Google Docs is a great tool, I hardly think it’s a competitor to Microsoft Office. The two are really in separate markets. So far, online word processors can’t match the functionality of desktop ones, but are still good for a lot of what you’d need to do with documents. A closer competitor to Google Docs would probably be Microsoft’s Office Live, another suite of online tools. This service also has free and paid subscriptions. The service still has some way to go before it can be considered a serious contender in the office/work productivity arena, that is, if Google ever intends it to be.

Created by Dan Bricklin, the guy who created the first spreadsheet application, it is basically what its name purports it to be - a spreadsheet that can be edited and viewed by a community. Current online spreadsheets already offer this ability, so what’s the big deal then?

Well, for one, it’s the way in which the data is stored. As I mentioned before, companies are not going to want to store their sensitive financial records in spreadsheets on public servers, no matter what privacy, security, or encryption is guaranteed. To solve this problem, wikiCalc is a package that can be installed on to a server of one’s choosing, say one on the company’s intranet. In this way, access can be better controlled, and managers can feel safter about their data.

The benefits are clear, as pointed out by Mike Arrington over at Tech Crunch. No more having to e-mail copies back and forth, as a single copy can be edited, stored and changed at will, with every update stored so that changes can be rolled back to any prior state. It’s a like an advanced version control system, except for spreadsheets instead of code. These are real benefits.

This will make it sort of a “half-way” Web2.0 application - not really on the Internet, but offering all the benefits, just on the smaller scale of a local network or corporate intranet. While these benefits should be attractive, we’ll have to see if companies will really adopt it - sometimes business is resistant to change, especially when they’ve spent years with Microsoft products that “already work”.

But don’t get me wrong. It’s a very well-done spreadsheet application, and has a very good desktop-feel to it, a fact that is all the more significant considering it’s a web application. Spreadsheets can be saved, either to Google’s servers or to your local system, and *.xls and *.csv files can be uploaded as well.

A nice set of regular desktop features such as cut/copy/paste and undo/redo are also included. The standard formatting options are also present, along with formulas, of course. A significant selection of built-in math functions are also available, besides the usual SUM and AVERAGE functions. All of this makes Google spreadsheets a very complete, but basic, spreadsheet program.

Google has also added the ability to share spreadsheets with other users, and one can also chat with current users who are also looking at the same spreadsheet, a move in the direction of increasing collaboration. Perhaps it will be (or already has been) integrated with Google Talk. However, this does not make it an Excel-killer, nor a killer of any real desktop spreadsheet, for that matter. Even if you consider that Google may just be wanting to “get their name out there” for as many products as possible, this service is not the way to do it.

Firstly, there are no graphing or charting options, making it relatively useless for lab students who will inevitably have to produce a graphical version of whatever data they’re working with. Perhaps this will be added in the future, but until then, this will be a severe limitation.

Secondly, there is virtually no incentive for anyone with a desktop spreadsheet to switch to Google’s online version. True, you may be able to access your data easier with Google Spreadsheets, but with online storage services already available, this may be a moot point. Also, there is the question of privacy - would you really want to be using an online service to store sensitive records?

Additionally, even if the online service equalled its desktop counterparts, companies would have a tough time switching after having invested so much on standardization on Microsoft’s products.

Also, as mentioned over at Micro Persuasion, there is no search feature, as of yet. For a company such as Google, this is somewhat unbelievable. It’s almost as if the service was launched just to show what is possible with web technologies nowadays, without considering whether it was really needed.

It may seem that Google is trying to chip away at Microsoft’s share of the office market, what with their SpreadSheet application and their purchase of Writely, an online word-processor, but in reality, I don’t see web services like these taking over traditional desktop suites anytime soon. (E-mail clients versus web-mail are a different story) I think Google would be better off continuing support of OpenOffice, and maybe consider incorporating these online services as some sort of package with OpenOffice, perhaps as “OpenOffice online” or something similar.

Additionally, there are also many online spreadsheets out there, such as: Num Sum, iRows, EditGrid, and Zoho Sheet. Many of these offer more features, (such as the missing chart and graph options mentioned before), and offer right-click menus as well, further adding to the seamless experience.

However, don’t mistake my criticisms for a lack of appreciation. I greatly admire what Google has been producing, and because of their big presence and keen interest in new technology, they’ve done much within the past few years to promote and rollout new Web 2.0 applications. Google SpreadSheets is very much well-done application, and one that is a step in the right direction, towards usable (and hopefully useful) online applications that are seamless with the desktop environment.