Wondering about Google Wave
For something like half a year, Google has been both dropping hints and hurling hype about its new Wave product, which is now in beta and may still be as nebulous as it ever has been.
Invites have been fairly difficult to get (though we got one) and Google Wave is now in a good-sized beta state, with approximately 100,000 people signed up to participate. It has been hyped as many things, but it is still a little difficult to tell exactly where Google is going with this program. Wave has been hailed as everything from email on steroids to a collaborative computer-driven wonder to Google’s idea of a social networking and media site. Regardless of what it turns out to be in its final form, it is interesting to participate in the beta and watch it grow inch by mile by inch.
There are still a lot of primarily small flaws, but it is obvious that programmers are working to both fix little glitches and to add new features. Regardless, the times that it has worked as advertised have offered a tantalizing view of a new way to multi-communicate on the Web. If all that Google has promised comes true, they may have come up with a very interesting multitalented service, one which brings together several of the most popular features of the Web.
Yes, it does do email. Yes, it does act a bit like a forum. Yes, it allows you to collaborate with others on documents (when things are going well in the beta software). Yes, it allows you to do real-time IM within a Wave thread. Plus, it all runs in the cloud. And there is more to come, including promised extensions to make the Wave experience even more beneficial and significant. It’s a little rough just now, and we have no idea how it will perform when it comes out of beta and runs into a really heavy load. All that can be said now is that is has promise. Ask around among your online friends and see if you can wangle a Wave invitation. You might be surprised at what you find.
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October 26th, 2009
Personally, I use Showdocument for online teaching and web conferencing. I’m not saying these programs aren’t good,
But I think a web-based application is always better, since there’s nothing to download or install.
try it at http://www.showdocument.com . -andy
October 26th, 2009
You are correct about the small flaws. There is some confusion about the invites issue. See http://www.dynamicalsoftware.com/news/?p=51 for clarification.