First of all, brilliant Marketing again. Remembering the days when Gmail was launched and was of use to a select few through invites. Ditto is the case with Google Wave; but, the noise is much more.
Truly speaking, I find Google Wave to be a significant communication evolution in the web arena. The buzz all around is so much just after a few days after its launch that you might in verity miss the plethora of articles going around the technology columns of so many well known sites. The newbies there – It is not just another application; it is something more than ‘just that’.
Techie-Buzz actually has a nice read titled Hands on Review in which you probably get to know the minutest of details before you ask some of your friend for a Wave invite. And, not to mention it has a Tips and Tricks article as well. Sure, Google Wave is not just about sharing docs, sending emails, live conversations, etc; for some it might be a Utopian technological leap ahead.
Ought to be critics, and here is what they would say -
-> Do you actually want to see people chatting Live? Why would you? You are not that jobless .. are you? What does it do to you? I say, makes you ‘Un-Productive’. Why? Because, for the productivity gains, you already have RSS Feeds, FriendFeed and the much widely acclaimed Twitter.
-> What do you do when a few more than a handful people start typing to you? Where do you Look? Figure it yourself, buddy.
Scobleizer thought the same way and also adviced -
- Do Not Add Everyone.
- Do Not Assume this as a Twitter Killer.
- Do try the API.
And, sure he gets some harsh critics. There was a comment which read as, “Consider its (Google Wave’s) usage purely as a translation machine, or as a way to keep ongoing track of a subject using a Wave as a “feed reader plus”, where not only can you include RSS feeds but have it be bot-populated by Tweets, blog posts and more that match keyword criteria–including ones that are foreign languages, thanks to its translator (I understand that there is a search engine that largely already does this. However, you can now use have a bot populate your wave with that engine’s output and then do things with *it*). So give it some time. There’s going to be some mind-blowing uses of this thing to come in the coming weeks, months and years“.
The point which I am trying to convey is that it would be time till we can get the maximum usage out of Google Wave. The Innovative features such as – Real Time, Embeddability, Extensions and Applications, Drag & Drop File Sharing, Auto-Correct feature, Wiki function and extensions are sure going to make a mark, but the average human brain adjusts gradually. Mashable has this brilliant post which takes you through A to Z about Google Wave.
I find it a clever take on e-mail, kinda off an IM with new features, a developer’s delight and a framework for innovative collaborative applications. To conclude, I think Google should be appreciated now by techies like you and me, not because it is Google, but because of the “Hype” that it has managed to sustain even before their product or service is launched. It understands the nitty-gritty of the internet, and the remarkable thing is that it ain’t a social networking powerhouse. The challenge here lies with Google in not only convincing people to sign up for Wave, but their contacts too. Google has already made a giant leap ahead and in no way it has tried to emulate something else, but combined everything to make our lives simpler.
As I say always, let’s see how long the Swell of the Wave remains!!
such a difficult post to read and comprehend.. didnt enjoy the style of writing at all.. who quotes someones complete paragraph??
Are there some rules laid out in the constitution that you cannot quote a complete paragraph ?
With so many readers on WATBlog, why is it that you are the only intelligent soul who had difficulties in understanding the post ?
Anyways, not at all a problem.
Thanks for your comment !!
Is Google wave a killer app — Yes – Innovative, interesting, useful? — Yes
But I still don’t think people will use it in place of a traditional mail.
This is definitely a good enterprise application (for office work) where you need a track for the followups but people scrapping the traditional mail for the wave? — No
Tapan – when a reader gives feedback, I would suggest you take it for what its worth. You should not be defensive as it only shows immaturity on your part.
As for Google Wave, I am an active user. Its ok but the hype exceeds the actual product. I agree that it is more likely to be a good platform for developers to attach to the API. I.E. innovation will not be from Goog but from the developer community.
The challenges I see:
1. Twitter and others have struggled recently to grow their base beyond a point, as non-nerds find usage troublesome. Wave is even more warped for the non-techie.
2. Other than search, and to some degree email (with the promise of Android being good some day), all other Goog products are all talk no kock. Unless they nurture the eco-system of developers for truly meaningful (read: non-geeky) usage, this will also languish in no mans land like Gtalk, Goog Earth and the biggest debacle Google Books.