Google Wave: what is it and why should you care?
Recently, Google released yet another app: Google Wave. There’s been a lot of hype surrounding this app. EBay invites to join the preview program have hovered around $70 each, yet the funny thing is very few people even know what Google Wave does or was supposed to do.
According to Google’s website for the app, “Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.”
In other words, Google is trying to create a new form of communication and collaboration that exists in real-time. But so what? Google does a lot of things, but as someone who has had the privilege of participating in the preview, I have yet to see anything that would make anyone use it on a regular basis. It aims to replace my e-mail, and functions like Google docs (with real-time editing); I just have yet to see how it works better than anything am already using.
With that said, it does have a lot of potential. Real-time chat and sharing of a links and videos, all in the commonly accessible place, has real potential for businesses and frequent collaborators. The biggest problem isn’t necessarily using the software, it’s getting other people to use it. Google Wave, without the people, is useless, and unfortunately many people don’t see the need to take the time to learn it and use it. It is, as one blogger said, a product searching for its purpose. Time will tell.
