Google Wave – say hello to integrated Web communication
Google is more than a mere search engine – it’s a vast, hugely profitable company, which is continually seeking to innovate and expand into new territories. With its latest project, Google Wave, it is doing just that, providing an integrated communication tool and so much more besides.
Google Wave is from the team who brought us Google Maps, led by the Rasmussen brothers, Jens and Lars. According to the official unveiling of the service on the Official Google Blog, it was borne out of the realization that as useful as email and instant messaging are, these two forms of Internet communication were originally designed in the 1960s. What would they look like if they were (re)invented today? Say “Hello” to Google Wave.
Google Wave is, in its purest form, a meshing of email and IM. But it’s also so much more. Wave is email, instant messaging, documents, Web pages, photos, videos, maps, and all manner of other things rolled into one. A Wave can take place between two people or hundreds of people, they can come and go, join in, add their own content, catch up on what’s gone before, or even privately message individuals involved in the main conversation.
Google Wave looks, at first glance, like a new form of communication, an integrated document-sharer, and more all rolled into one. It could even give social networks a run for their money by offering people the chance to partake in a variety of different activities with the individuals or groups they want to.
With Web integration and cloud computing being concepts or trends bandied about by all manner of companies, Google has actually gone and developed something tangible using the technology. The germ of the idea which led to Google Wave happened in 2004, but the project wasn’t begun until 2007.
A small team has worked on it for the last two years and the open source code is now being made available to developers in order to see what other people can add to the application before it launches to the rest of us. Personally, I can’t wait for the finished article.
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May 29th, 2009
I keep wondering whether Google is becoming the new Microsoft, but then I realise, actually, they may have a near monopoly position, but at least their technology is good.