Offline is awesome; obviously because it means it works anywhere, but also I presume this means that all formula evaluation is now done locally, i.e. "instantly". I am pretty sure that before the server was involved in (some?) recalculation, which caused sluggishness.
I still find it bizarre that the actual files still aren't synced in the google drive desktop app. Instead they are synced and stored in the browser. I'm assuming this means you have to go into the browser and get the latest versions before you go offline, rather than the desktop app keeping you in sync. The desktop app really feels neglected, like it's a checkbox feature to compete with Dropbox.
> I still find it bizarre that the actual files still aren't synced in the google drive desktop app.
I suspect one of the reasons for that is that the native storage isn't a file format at all, and that all of a users sheets (and other files for the Google apps) are stored in a set of entries in an online database.
> The desktop app really feels neglected, like it's a checkbox feature to compete with Dropbox.
The ability to store traditional files in Drive and access them through the same web UI is a feature that was added, I suspect, to make the Drive interface usable as a one-stop browser-based information access point (a "My documents" for Chromebooks, in a sense), and the desktop app is a feature that provides syncing to encourage people to store desktop files in a way which also makes them readily accessible to that interface, as well as a me too feature to compete with Dropbox.
> I suspect one of the reasons for that is that the native storage isn't a file format at all, and that all of a users sheets (and other files for the Google apps) are stored in a set of entries in an online database.
If the DB entries can be duplicated to the users browser, then they could be serialized to a file in the users google drive. This would allow people to back up their files, move files out of google drive when it gets full and move them back in when they need them. That guy that lost all his files a few months ago would have been ok. I can't see a good reason the .gsheet files are just bookmarks. I want my files.
Also, if somebody from Google is reading this, please add a reconnect option to Google drive. Exiting and re-running drive is a pain after every network failure, hibernation, etc.
