I attended many great sessions while at
Google I/O. I really started to see the where they are going with using
Google Spreadsheets as data stores.
I have used as data stores for quite a while, but they are really pushing for them to store enterprise data,
application data,
web site data, and much more.
Way back in the day when i was doing
non-profit work I went and conducted a needs assement at a large educational non-profit. To build a specification for developming a new administrative system.
Went I first went in I was told there there is a central
database system by the management. After conducting my multi day technoloy needs assessment I found out that the real staff utilized many many
spreadsheets as data stores to get their work done. They rarely used the central system.
I find this to be common across many organizations.
This is why I think
Google Apps has huge potential for the spreadsheets to be majorly adopted as data stores for the masses in non-profits, business, and enterprises.
I'll talk more formerly about this later.