nFusion Explains: Google Wave
October 23, 2009
By Justin Wetz
So what’s the deal with Google Wave? You’ve probably heard that it will let you communicate and collaborate with your friends and co-workers in a new way. If that sounds incredibly vague, you’re not the only one who thinks so, as evidenced by the numerous explanation videos on YouTube and online comparisons of things that are easier to understand than Wave. Google has a video on its Wave site that takes almost 90 minutes to highlight some of Wave’s features. Even if you read slowly, this article should give you an overview of what Wave can do in just a few minutes.
What’s the Problem?
I am beginning to dread the phrase “I’ll forward you the e-mail string.” You know the e-mails I mean. E-mails with subject lines like “FW:RE:RE:RE:RE:RE: Let’s Make These Updates,” overflowing with attachments and highlighted notes (if you’re lucky) so you can find the sentences you actually need to read.
You probably have some of those e-mails in your inbox right now. Just sitting there. Google Wave takes aim at the e-mail string problem: It’s an old problem. As this video points out, e-mail was invented over 40 years ago. It’s time for an update. And Wave is here to help.
What Is a Wave?
Think of a wave as a package for a conversation. When you create a new wave, you can invite any of your contacts to share in the conversation. The wave is updated in real time, so if you are both online, you can see the each other typing out your messages. If only one of you is online the wave is updated and can be viewed when the other person logs back in. Aside from text, you can also insert images, documents, YouTube videos, Google Maps, and you can add notes to any part of the conversation. The wave is presented in one stream, so there is no need to search through old e-mails for attachments or try to remember a detail from an IM conversation you had.
If you add someone to the wave after it has been started not only will your new correspondent see everything in the wave, but he or she can also play back the entire conversation, seeing everything as it was added or deleted along the way.
What Else Can It Do?
Google has opened up its API to developers so they can create gadgets for Wave. A gadget is a small application that can run inside and work with Wave. For instance, Ribbit lets you have telephone conferences with anyone listed on a wave, and 6 Rounds lets you have a video chat with members of your wave.
This could also be a good opportunity for certain brands to introduce a new way for users to interact. For instance, there is a gadget that uses Lonely Planet’s content to let you collaboratively plan a vacation itinerary using Wave.
Another feature, called a bot, can add still more functionality to a wave. The Bloggy bot, for example, posts a wave’s contents to a blog for you automatically. I’m sure the collection of bots and gadgets will grow as the developer community has more time to work with Wave.
Sounds Cool, Where Can I Get It?
Right now, Wave access is by invitation only. One-hundred thousand lucky people received invites and can invite others, but it will probably take a few months at least for Google to release it to a wider audience.
Once it is released, it will be interesting to see if people adopt Wave as a work tool or just something that they use for their personal communications. The fact that you have to use Google’s service as your primary source of communications instead of your company’s e-mail server might not be welcome. I’m also curious to see if companies such as Microsoft and Apple will develop technologies in their own e-mail clients in the future to mimic Wave. Time will tell if it’s the next big thing or a flash in the pan, but either way I am definitely excited about the possibilities of Wave and what it could mean for communication. Good luck scoring an invite!
