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I flunked the MS Excel test.

There were only about 10 questions, and I figured I understood spreadsheets pretty well, but there are some things you can do in that program I didn’t know you could do. Not that it mattered, because I was only test-driving it for someone I knew who was going for an admin job. There are many staffing agencies that ask temps to take such a test before they include them on their roster. And the best place to find examples of the tests, of course, is through Google.

It will probably be a long, long time before those staffing agencies begin drafting tests based around Google Spreadsheet, which the company announced Tuesday. Why bother? There’s not much chance the clients of such agencies will make the switch anytime soon, even if they don’t bother upgrading to 2007 Office. Accountants, lawyers and finance people love Excel the way Mac enthusiasts like their G5s, or the way open source programmers love Linux. Its following is not just a product of the application’s ubiquity, as might be said of Microsoft Word, or even of its features. It has a simplicity that people prize dearly. Business processes are routinely set up around it, and not the other way around. Google faces more competition from Excel than it ever will from MSN in search.

Google executives have said its Spreadsheet application will focus on the ability to share data among family and friends, rather than creating charts. That makes sense for Google, because sharing information is just another way to make it searchable, which is what the company does best. Personally, I can’t remember the last time I worked with my mother on a spreadsheet, but maybe it would be convenient if we could. Other than that, who will be willing to let an online property like Google host the kind of information that is routinely stored in a spreadsheet? Some CIOs are no doubt writing policies advising against it as we speak.

The launch of Google Spreadsheet follows its acquisition of Writely, which offered a word processor that was seen as a threat to MS Word. There are still Excel alternatives out there, such as OpenOffice.org’s Calc and NumSum, but no one would seriously claim they enjoy anything close to a critical mass. Even Google seems hesitant about SpreadSheet. It’s being opened only to a select group through its Labs service, perhaps recognizing the target audience will have next to no patience for bugs. Its supposed online advantage, meanwhile, will be short-lived, given Microsoft’s Office Live strategy to bring Excel into the software-as-a-service arena.

Excel’s real future lies in the way it gets tied in to business intelligence systems. SAP, Oracle and others are all working to help users derive more benefit out of the raw data they tabulate in Excel today. Microsoft may also seize this opportunity as it develops its own business intelligence software. Until such products reach maturation, it will probably continue to enjoy loyal partnerships. If Microsoft starts to steal BI market share, however, it may be worthwhile for Microsoft’s rivals to partner with Google and boost the prospects of Spreadsheet. On its own, this is one Google offering that may not add up to much.

sschick@itbusiness.ca

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