Speed and simplicity.
Microsoft Office is slow and complicated. Google Apps are slower and, in some ways, more complicated.
Need examples of outrageous successes using speed and simplicity: email, instant messaging, texting, .txt files. Google Apps must be more like these, faster and simpler, for widespread adoption.
Because you've already hidden them. Along with that fricken dancing paper clip.
Many people, when initially overwhelmed by unnecessary features, just refuse to adopt and stick with something simpler. That's Google's biggest problem with Apps.
my niece did image manipulation (gradient, bending, shearing, shadowing) by just clicking on previews in ms office 2009?. the same feat would take me 15 mins in gimp
There are specific uses for Excel that might be made faster and simpler. But I'm not sure that you can replace all the uses of Excel with something faster and simpler. Another way to look at it, Excel is a faster, simpler way to solve problems that would otherwise require programming. In that sense, Excel is already the faster, simpler alternative.
Other than that, it was really awful. Open Office would have been better even. Microsoft Office blows away Google Documents in every way as far as usability is concerned.