What makes this better than using the Google Docs API? I could have anyone write to a spreadsheet and in turn it would be updated when called on their API.
In fact I do that for many small business clients of mine which don't want to deal with databases for things like their product catalog and pricing lists.
Additionally you get version control, busier sites get the google doc scraped X times a minute as to not reach the request limit.
- Simplicity. It's fine for you to create an API via Google Docs, but I suspect it'd be tough for your (presumably) non-technical clients.
- Generated API docs
- Granular control of who sees what data and APIs
- Usage tracking (see who's using your APIs/data and how often)
- Easy integration for API clients: example code, no messing around with authenticating their Google account
I don't think you're wrong though: For publishers who already have their spreadsheets held in Google Docs and have setup an API, and are happy with that process, then there isn't a _huge_ benefit here.
That said, I've had quite a few emails overnight from people asking to support importing spreadsheets from Google Docs, so clearly they're missing something - I'll have to ask to find out whether it's something from my list above or something else.
In fact I do that for many small business clients of mine which don't want to deal with databases for things like their product catalog and pricing lists.
Additionally you get version control, busier sites get the google doc scraped X times a minute as to not reach the request limit.