For all of this Blog's rants on the technological godsend/evil internet juggernaut that is Google, it is hard to believe that the subject of Google Wave has yet to feature prominently. Wave is Google's “revolutionary” new communication/collaborative workspace platform that is sloooooooowly being rolled out to people who signed up as early as May. While technophiles the world wide web over have been hailing it as a breakthrough, one has to wonder, is Wave really the next Gmail or Google Search?
A simple explanation of what Wave does is efficiently allow people to collaborate. Imagine being able to work on a project with other people, in different locations, and having the ability to instantly share text, pictures, sounds, and files. (And keep imagining, because the chance of you actually getting a Wave invite soon are in the mid to high 'absolutely nots'.) While it is revolutionary in a way, one of the first things I though (along with about a baker's dozen other people) is “wow, this sounds a whole lot like Microsoft Groove, just for free.” It's funny how our first intuitions are usually correct. Now, you're probably saying to yourself, “oh, ya...Microsoft Groove...I've heard of that..” Microsoft Groove is very similar to Google Wave, the main difference being Groove is PC based and Wave is Cloud based. Functionally, they are nearly identical, with the edge going to Groove for its seamless Microsoft Office integration.
Seven years ago, a similar analogy could have been made between Gmail and the number of private internet email systems that utilized Outlook. Outlook was and is the superior mail client, but who doesn't have a Gmail account? It's free why not sign up? That is the attitude that has allowed Gmail to become the largest webmail provider in the world. Wave has this factor going for it. Strike that. Wave needs this factor to be the revolution people have come to expect it to be. You see, Wave is currently in a private (or invite only) beta. Which has basically created a situation like this.
Wave's biggest hurdle is not Groove, the application you've never heard of. It is the closed beta that for some reason Google has imposed upon it. I remember the Gmail beta, where invites were about as rare as water on a boat. Wave is at the other end of the spectrum. Every time Google releases a new set of invites, Wave is a trending topic on twitter, and message boards are abuzz with people begging for invites. Some of the more desperate are even turning to eBay, where invites are now being sold.
If Google really wants Wave to be the wave of the future, they need to saturate the market, make the ability to use Wave a commodity that is able to be bought and sold.
It should also be noted that Google Wave purportedly gets its name from the show Firefly, with a Wave being any kind of transmission from one ship to another. And Firefly was awesome.
I should also note that I do in fact have a Google Wave account, and this is not simply speculation.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who also has a Wave account, and so far whose Wave experiences are like sitting around in an empty room waiting for something cool to happen, I agree with you. I think I read somewhere though that the reason they do all this beta roll-out has to do with server size; they set up a beta server to work out all the kinks, and presumably if they let everyone in the whole thing would crash and burn. But yeah, that doesn't make it suck any less for the time being.
ReplyDeleteThat's so funny. What's the point of a program that helps collaboration if there's no one to collaborate with? I hope the server explanation is true because otherwise Google's just stupid.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Rachel-if they are trying to spread Google Wave, then why are they being so exclusive? Also people keep positing that they can send google wave invitations on facebook, so it doesn't seem that exclusive. How do you get an invitation in the first place? I'm sure when it is perfect (as it inevitably will be) everyone will love it and not know how they lived without it. But that's how everything seems with google.
ReplyDeleteI remember when the original beta version for Gmail followed a similarly elusive trend... but when I finally got my invitation to make an account, I was extraordinarily pleased and have never looked back since. I am still a longtime and proudly exclusive user of Google's take on email. Also, I can admit to having felt the same way regarding Google Wave, and now that I've received my invitation I look forward to using this program in full. I can't imagine it being long from here until Wave steadily gets out in the masses and internet users get to explore its immense capabilities by sharing it with a large network of friends and associates.
ReplyDeleteI've heard a lot of hype about this new Google Wave, but I still only know little about it. Most of what I know about it came from this blog post actually, and I think it will have great potential as collaboration and communication tool. But I never really understood the whole exclusive, 'by invitation only' status of Google Wave. If the whole point of the digital workspace is to be a communication tools that can be used between individuals and groups, I feel it would make more sense to have the service available to everyone. I couldn't imagine if other communication sites like Facebook and Twitter were by invite only, and only certain, pre-selected 'chosen ones' were allowed to participate. Google Wave has the potential to go global and become a part of our daily, everyday lives as much as Facebooking or Tweeting, but it needs to be made available to everyone and made free for this to happen. This would increase the number collaborate groups using the Wave, increasing the overall prevalence of the publication and its popularity as a whole.
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