Everybody's talking about Google Spreadsheet -- but where did it come from, anyway? I was surprised in my conversation with Google Spreadsheet product manager Jonathan Rochelle that he was working out of Google’s New York City development group. Err…New York City? Wasn’t aware there _was_ a wing of the GooglePlex in the Big Apple. Turns out the answer to that question has a lot to do with where Google Spreadsheet came from. While much of the product development comes out of Google Labs, the guts of Google Spreadsheet is an application formerly known as XL2Web by 2Web Technologies which, unbeknownst to most of us, Google bought last year. There’s not much out there on XL2Web, though eWEEK’s Jim Rapoza did a fine write-up of the company’s first release back in July, 2004. His review touches on a lot of the key features that Rochelle, formerly XL2Web’s CEO, highlighted in his conversation to me and a lot of other journos this week: the impossibility of using and sharing spreadsheets online. That’s the main strength of Google Spreadsheet, at least for the time being: you can import your data from Excel, then modify it in realtime online and share it with others using your (free) Web browser. Of course, back then XL2Web wanted $100 a month to host spreadsheets, and $35,000 for “companies deploying a server internally for unlimited use.” Now, presumably, the cost is $0. Thanks, Google! The weaknesses? There are lots — including an inability to work on your spreadsheets offline, and an inability to lock cells or worksheets when two or more people are working on a spreadsheet simultaneously, meaning the last one in wins when it comes to joint edits. GOOG’s going to be working on that and presumeably a lot more, including links between all the different pieces they’re putting together: mail, word processing, spreadsheet, collaboration, Rochelle said. Stay tuned! Technology Industry