Google may be planning to beef up its online spreadsheet offering by hiring the founders of iRows, a browser-based spreadsheet service. A posting to the iRows blog on Tuesday announced that Israeli service iRows will shut down on Dec. 31 and that the company’s founders will join Google. Google Screenshot Google confirmed that it has hired iRows founders Yoah Bar-David and Itai Raz and that they will work in Google’s Tel Aviv and Haifa research and development centers. In June, Google introduced Google Spreadsheets, a Web-based offering that lets users create and share spreadsheets and documents online, without using a software program like Microsoft’s Excel. The offering was developed based on Google’s acquisition of 2Web Technologies, a company that specialized in online information-sharing technology. At the time of the Google Spreadsheet service launch, there was some speculation that Google had bought iRows to create the offering. In an iRows blog posting, the founders wrote that the Google launch, though unrelated to iRows, drove more traffic to iRows than its servers could handle, presumably from people interested in other existing online spreadsheet offering. While iRows admitted that the Google offering has some more features than its own, iRows has some additional capabilities that Google doesn’t support.When iRows closes, all data from user spreadsheets will be deleted. IRows details how customers can transport their spreadsheets to Google Spreadsheets. Customers won’t be able to transfer charts, however, because they aren’t supported by Google Spreadsheets. Some iRows users complained in postings on the blog about having to sign up to a Google account in order to use Google Spreadsheets. Google’s spreadsheet offering also competes with AdventNet’s Zoho online spreadsheet and document offering and Team and Concepts’ EditGrid.-Nancy Gohring, IDG News Service (Dublin Bureau)Related Link: Google Writely, Spreadsheets Get Common PlatformCheck out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content news Salesforce CEO Benioff shakes up executive team with new hires Six months after the company lost its co-CEO and announced it was laying off 10% of its global workforce, Salesforce’s top team is undergoing a major personnel change. By Charlotte Trueman Jun 07, 2023 3 mins Technology Industry Enterprise Applications opinion Cisco debuts bold portfolio of network, security, and observability solutions and previews generative AI capabilities for Webex and Security Cloud Cisco’s innovative technologies help connect the dots of its network- and cloud-based ecosystem. By Pete Bartolik Jun 07, 2023 4 mins Cloud Security brandpost A guide to hybrid cloud deployment for innovation without disruption How do organizations balance their on-premises preferences and requisites with the crucial need to innovate? By Ahmed Helmy, Global Vice President, Avaya Experience Platform Product Management Jun 07, 2023 3 mins Hybrid Cloud brandpost Bringing AI to your organization? Better bring the right database Why Apache Cassandra offers the scalability, reliability, and speed required for building artificial intelligence applications. By Patrick McFadin Jun 07, 2023 7 mins Machine Learning Artificial Intelligence Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe