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.
