Google Wave, the search giant’s incredibly ambitious new Email/IM hybrid that was announced in May, is quickly picking up steam. As of last week the service was open to around 6,000 developers (most of whom had attended conferences like I/O), and Google is planning to send out an additional 20,000 invites over the next month. It looks like a big batch of them just went out, as we’ve received a number of tips about new invitations, and Twitter is currently abuzz with excited developers thrilled to finally get in on the action.
One other piece of news that will be very interesting to non-developers eagerly waiting to try out the service: Google is planning to release Wave to 100,000 users beginning on September 30th, using the service’s main wave.google.com hub rather than the developer site (we can likely expect a Gmail-like limited invitation system). By this time we can likely expect there to be a rich variety of Wave widgets — the site already boasts plenty of them, including a RickRoll widget and more practical things like a weather forecast — but you can’t try them out without a Developer Sandbox account.
Thanks to Noah Hendrix for the tip.
Image credit: thelastminute.
lets see how it works when it hit the market and i suppose this will also remain as beta for years to come.
I don’t know if Google will stick to the beta label for years. But I’m sure that this Wave thing is going to catch the attention of users very much. By making it invite only, Google is making Wave a much-coveted web app.
well that the google way of doing things ….creating hype by making it just by invite. Same they did with Gmail and recently with Google voice.
This way you tend to feel when i will get the invite….
Plus those that first get the invite turn into fanboys, because they were first to use the “cool” new product…
i am thinking it maybe close to zenbe’s ShareFlow. http://www.zenbe.com/ ?
check out this one also colayer
http://www.colayer.com
zenbe – i tried out…. what is similar to wave ?
Goog wave is nothing but fb inbox messaging between 3 or more friends. They already allow to attach multimedia(pics, vids, polls) to messages. Only they have to add profile pic thumbnails on top of “conversation”, instead of name list.
Now that’s the worst comparison ever. wave is nothing like the fb inbox at all. And yes, I know what I’m talking about (got sandbox access).
Also I can’t understand the people saying that there is no reason to leave e-mail. Sounds like the guys who said “Who needs a mobile phone when everybody has a normal phone at home?” or “The horse is here to stay, but the automobile is a novelty – a fad”. Embrace the future, it’s inevitable
Only difference fb inbox and goog wave inbox are profile pic thumbnails. All that map/pics etc can be attached.
And yeah another difference, fb inbox is 4 years old, while wave is -1 years old.
I think you would have thought of Wave differently if you had the chance to try it. It is nothing like Facebook Inbox and it is a much better way of communicating compared to most E-mail services (including Gmail) I have gotten my sandbox access and working now on some gadgets for Wave and I believe in what Phil said, Embrace the future, it’s inevitable.
(Btw, I was trying to highlight the part of your speech that I wanted to reply to because I’m used to that now
)
I haven’t seen wave – all my deductions are based on TC’s first wave post’s screenshots, not even text there. I dont comment on that post coz MG S always deletes my comments. Goog has succeeded here in its very common strategy of diverting attention using htm5 etc etc.
@Jehad, @phil
Instead of saying “ohhh wave is so cool and sexy and the next coming” why don’t you compare and contrast with fb inbox and tell us what the difference is.
@bombayninja
Well, even though it might seem like a good idea to compare between them, comparing between FB Inbox and Wave is not a fair or a scientific comparison.
It is not about saying how great Wave is, it is just saying that Wave has a very different concept and is built for a different reason/s.
A very basic difference between those is that you do not have an address (like an email address) when you are using FB Inbox but you have one when you are using Wave. Real time editing is another important and cool feature, developing gadgets and applications on top of Wave itself, its use as a collaborative editing tool, the play back feature, and many many other features and differences.
Also, the concept of Wave is different. FB Inbox is a way to message a Friend on Facebook. Wave, on the other hand, is a way to communicate with people all over the world with the ability to collabritivly edit and work on emails and documents easily and quickly.
In addition to all what was mentioned here, the possibility of embedding waves into other websites or blogs (and vice versa) is a very important feature that Facebook Inbox does not have.
In my opinion, despite the fact that I have some stuff that I don’t like about Wave (same as any other product), saying that wave could be compared to FB Inbox.
I hope you will get your Wave invite (if you have already asked for one) and then you could post your opinion. Even if you think it is not a great product, using it will make it clearer that it is NOT FB Inbox.
@jehad
Thanks for the explanation. Though my comment sounded snarky it was a genuine request. I have seen the wave video in the past and I think it is an impressive concept. To me it seemed like a super-email service. The wave platform will be something that will set it apart from email.
at first look wave just looks like fb news feed except perhaps with more interactivity…but at any rate it seems overrated
oh yes, absolutely. You are like a crossover between Touchstone and Jaques from Shakespears As You Like it.
Funny, and melancholy!
Comparing Google Wave to the FB inbox is like comparing the iPhone to a rotary phone. Watch the Wave demo before you make such an asinine comment:
http://www.yout...h?v=v_UyVmITiYQ
Half of folks who comment here have not seen the Wave demo video by the inventors.
If the scalability and performance is satisfactory then this is going to be BIG. I am not related to google in anyways and not particularly a google fan.
Take my word for it-if this Wave does even a reasonable job in performance and scale, you are watching a new revolution happening…..
When I say Wave, I dont actually mean the WAve as they product but an underlying platform concept.
We dont have time to watch 1 hour vid. Time is precious, at least mine..
Yeah Wave is way more than that…. I surprisingly got one of the invites this afternoon and had some time to play around with it this evening. I wrote up a quick blog post w/ some screenshots of what’s going on right now. I plan to spend lots of time over the next few days playing around and starting to develop some apps. It’s awesome!!
Oh, here’s the post: http://plzkthxb...le-wave-invite/
I eagerly await sandbox access
I got my account earlier today! It’s pretty cool but the developer version isn’t very interesting except for developing things!
Most of the plugins don’t seem to work and Safari support sucks!
I did notice that they were hosting the Wave Beta Service in a similar way as they host Google Apps. Actually, the whole thing is just a Google Apps account but with Wave features.
http://www.flic...cer/3741430385/
You should look into this! I wonder if it means that Google will be doing the same thing that they do for Google Apps for Wave—hosting their services at your custom domain!
That would be awesome! A lot of companies would love to set this system up “internally”.
Safari support sucks? Does that mean Chrome support too, since they are both WebKit-Based. Unless it’s the Javascript. Chrome’s V8 is comparable to Safari 4’s Nitro however.
Are you really asking if Google’s own browser will work with Google Wave?
I think that’s a given.
Well chrome don’t have the same capability as firefox with google toolbar, and thats also a google product.
wave will fail.
1. theres no reason to leave email
2. no reason to leave IM
there is no incentive for people to get into wave bs propaganda.
but people in silicon valley will say its the best thing ever since its from google even though its not even that great
I think it’s very innovative and I will continue to find it awesome. For most people, you’re right! It doesn’t have much more to offer (yet at least) than the generic alternatives.
I think it will work best for small businesses. I was doing some tests with it. Using it as a collaboration tool is awesome. I could easily see it replace email and IM for tight-nit groups of people like coworkers. But I see your point, it’s really only cool if people use it.
Though on the other hand… it could turn out like Twitter. In the beginning it was something that only internet addicts (like me) used. Then, all the sudden it went mainstream. It just takes a little while sometimes.
I think for early adopters, there will probably some cool “bots” to let your use Google wave with not Google wave users. I could easily see a bot that would bring in IM conversations to Wave. Also, maybe a bot to bring in your emails to Wave, let you read and reply to them there, and then translate them back into standard emails. It could work very well.
@Spencer
basementdad is merely a troll
he makes anti-everything comments to attempt to spark interest in his post and then gain more twitter followers
> 1. theres no reason to leave email
Collaberative updating, ability to switch seamlessly to IM, better spell+grammar checking, shareable automated macro’s via bots, calendar+twitter integration likewise
2. no reason to leave IM
Faster response than standard IM, live translation & spellchecking in IM, collaberation on eg:event details, integration to twitter
also embeddable multiplayer games for casual users
twitter integration… ohhhhh… I have already stopped using email.
For the most part your right. But the bots sure do make it nice. This could easily be adapted to plugins in other IMs. I would love to be able to have automatic translations done via IM with some foreign clients. Either way I can’t wait to try it out and see how it works with collaborating with co-workers. A free solution is better than no solution at all.
Email communication….. has lot of problems
1.Organization of information – communication is stored in different tools like email, chat, document management, etc.
The new paradigm will lead to storing all information along with the context, no matter what tool has generated it.
2. We will not “send” information anymore.
The root cause of the problem with email is that we make copies of information and send them around, to people, who may not be interested. This results in fragmentation, inconsistency, information overload and spam. In the new paradigm, we travel, not the information. We always work within a meaningful context and the information stays there.
This can be a little bit cover by using google wave.
But google waves root is still email
Do you guys have a sandbox account? Or even watch the demo? Or just hating? Because I think it IS that great.
Think Wave will be huge. Love the idea. Anyone who receives far too many emails will appreciate it.
Going to be great new feature to incorporate for employers on BraveNewTalent.com
Looking forward to the release.
Someone should create a TechCrunch bot. I would love to be “waved” the new posts and be able to comment on them in Wave.
How many businesses will be crushed by the Wave?
Name them…
Why put crush before embrace and extend?
Versioning (aka food and water, for coders) is already making people rethink their approach to collaboration.
http://helderri...eiro.net/?p=130
@Renae
friendfeed is first to be dumped by the wave into the deadpool
Microsoft, Twitter, Facebook, Yahoo, Myspace, LinkedIn and seesmic.
This much buzz around a product that only 6,000 people have even tried? I get more hits on Youtube videos of my cat. How do we know it’s not a complete piece of garbage? I can just imagine Google’s next big release… “It’s so mind-blowingly amazing, only 10 people are cool enough to use it…”
You obviously haven’t seen this!
http://bit.ly/g...lewaveisawesome
woops! @david
I actually saw the video on the day it was announced and signed up for the developer preview. Nothing since then… not a word from Google. And it may even be as mind-blowing as it sounds, but all I’m saying is let’s wait and base our judgement on the actual product and not just on the hype surrounding it.
David
Relax you will get your invitation too
I really doubt that only 6,000 person are using it, the number looks a lot bigger. I got access to it yesterday and could see a good amount of activity in there.
It looks promising, am yet to explore it fully before I can be judgemental about it.
What exactly is Google Wave?
watch this my friend
http://wave.google.com/
That’s really a cool news,Eager to use google wave.
All excellent and innovative features….
Co editing, In context replays,Drag & drop , Document management , language translation while typing ,Drafting….. more more……
Is it bad that I like being Rick rolled? Is there anyway to gauge the socio-economic impact Astley has had in the tech world?
I also enjoy the occasional Rick Roll. I think everyone does, really.
Much ado about very little. Can you say Cool-Aid? Everything we saw so far can be created with technology that is more than 5 years old. No need to reinvent the wheel.
That’s a good new for everyone
Well I have had a bit of a touch and feel on the sand box… And yes there is all this hype … thank you twitter and the technorati…
However if you think that wave is a hybrid between IM And email … Your are wrong … Massively wrong or short sighted ( see an optician )
The technology driving the elements that make up wave are incredibly powerful.
This could be quite possibly one of the most powerful project management platforms out there.
Training platform.
collaboration platform
article submission platform
this is quite possibly one of the products with the largest scope to be ” the next big thing ” let it evolve… and don’t hate before you try it… seriously.
wave will be very much useful for this type of discussions…..many people can communicate in real time
Apple is developing a Google Wave competitor that will be integrated into the iLife suite. Check out the demo on Youtube:
http://www.yout...h?v=ZOU8GIRUd_g
u f**king idiot
I can confirm non-IO Wave invitations going out.
Too bad it’s probably too late, for me, coding bots looked like it could have been fun…
Looking forward to check out the wave service as it gets launched.
Got my google wave account last night.. I love the platform.. i just wish it’d be faster and less buggy.
it’s going to space . . . give it a minute
Looks like the site is broken in the latest version of firefox, i can see tiny ad boxes under the no of comments link.
Wow, a Hybrid IM/Email. I was surprised in Google I/O 09′. They are already to mash-up a lot of stuff in gmail. Even, now we will get a great platform. let’s try it out.
Hope I can get one of those invitations, Google Wave is so cooool! I love it at the first sign
I’m intrigued by the potential of Wave, I expect we will see some innovative mashups and applications surface over the next few months!
If Friendfeed introduce this it will move from real-time to unreal-time as it will be impossible to keep up with the conversations
Umm… RickRoll and the weather…?
A “rich variety of Wave widgets” including RickRoll and weather forecasts?
This is surely one wave I won’t want to miss.
Any new change is always welcome, eagerly waitng to be a part of it.
Google Wave Rocks
You only saying that because the guy in the presentation and I can tell from your name that you a Indian as for the produce itself the Wave it not rock because it so slow it so hard to use it so hard to undestand it not what most people even not what they use.
google wave=yawn
I am looking forward to seeing how Wave works with my own eyes. I am hopeful that Wave will be as cool as it seems from the video.
I am not a techie. I have busy days and a short attention span. If I am correct in assuming 90% of wave’s market are people like me, then it will fail.
I gave myself a couple of minutes to find out what the heck wave is, and gave up.
I clicked on the link and was routed to a LONGGGGGGGG, wordy presentation by some nerdy Indian marketing guy in a geeky shirt tucked into tight jeans. I gave up on trying to follow his presentation after about 60 seconds, when I realized that he had said nothing substantial so far and the bar on the video browser had a long way to go.
Google is trying too hard. Couldn’t Google have written a concise, one-paragraph description what Wave is or entails? Too much hype with little substance buried in between.
True.
Just finished watching the tedious 1:20 presentation.
It could be summed up in 10 minutes, but for some reason it was a repetitive and long show.
Nonetheless, it is great product, and you’ll use it even if no one will explain it to you explicitly.
I agree too long too repetitive it not even funny here in my office in the year 09 nobody have ability to attention span to understand problem is you must understand to start using if you dont undestand you dont use if you dont use you dont if you dont undesand you dont know how good a produce is even it good it not value to you thing about it what good is 8 cylinder 500 HP corvette if you dont know how to read to have a driver license or if you dont know how to drive so what if it fast and nice you still rather walk instead.
You were simply not meant to be involved with the Wave protocol at this point. From the Google Wave site:
“Google Wave is a new tool for communication and collaboration on the web, coming later this year…”
This is for people that understand the power of a new comm protocol, an open-source implementation, and foundations in established protocols (not to mention federation). Developers will learn and help shape the future of the Wave protocol.
When mature enough, you will be hand-fed the answers to the questions you pose. Until then, just use Facebook and Sharepoint (or w/e your company uses). Quite simply, you are clueless.
I dont blame you for not getting it. But if Wave delivers scale and performance, you are seeing a revolution on internet Apps.
It is less about the product Wave, but a different platform philosophy of hyper connected, extreme user-to-user, almost reactionary Apps on the internet.
Waiting for the non-developer roll-out on Sep 30th.
I’d like them to unveil it sooner. I really don’t mind it being Beta. As soon as they are sure the protocol is 100% the one that will work, they should just launch it.
To Mankind and Coldbrew:
Wow !! Thanks for elucidating, with all your might, about the new, Wave Protocol.
I am thoroughly intimidated.
Sounds more like a cult than a new application.
I just spent a couple hours on Google Wave. The excitement I felt can only be compared to the first time I accessed the web. This is a game changer. Everything is instant real-time and makes my other favorite site Twitter seem so yesterday. I also happened across a Techcrunch Wave as they were getting their gadget up and running. Techcrunch was receiving instant feedback on gadget bugs from other wavers. Amazing.
Could you record some screen action of you testing out Google Wave, just anything that goes on in there and share it with us on Youtube? Or does Google ask you not to do such things with your developer account?
I’d like to see it in action some more than just the prepared things they had in the official presentation..
I like very much the writings and pictures and explanations in your adress so I look forward to see your next writings.
To provide useful information, please click to view
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Thank you!
We’ve operated a successful development business for 7 years. In that time we’ve had zero negative client feedback, high rates of referrals and repeat business, and no requests for refunds. We attribute that success to effective communication which we manage exclusively on email, and we avoid I.M like the PLAGUE.
In a business environment, I.M is a productivity killer. Try and imagine having a perpetual phone call with clients that lack project planning and management skills and you’ve got a recipe for scope creep, double handling and nonproductive hours.
We like people and clients to “think” before communicating, and we like to reply at our own convenience rather than being constantly nagged by an I.M window. Most of our communications concern tens of thousands of dollars in business so there isn’t any room for real-time screw ups in communication.
Wave looks like it’s built with speed in mind. That’s great if your talking to your pal’s about google’s latest smelly-fart, but in a real world commercial environment it’s best to be making “intelligent” decisions, not “quick” decisions.
We’ve had client’s try and nudge us onto I.M that we politely decline. Once a projects completed they realize I.M wasn’t necessary. They might have had to sit down and “think” for themselves, but by doing so they save countless hours that ultimately saves us time and them money.
Perhaps Wave is another social networking tool but we don’t solicit business using social networking and we rarely have time for meaningless banter with friends and acquaintances. So we don’t see the point of Wave from our commercial perspective, and we don’t see anything new about it’s technology. In that regard we think Wave is a gimmick that can do a few cool tricks if you’ve got the time to play with toys that do little to assist real-world productivity.
Good luck with it. But don’t call it an email killer before the chickens hatch. Having developers oogle over it is one thing, getting people in business to engage it for meaningful applications is a completely different set of propositions that clearly Google cannot construct by themselves .. and how much money do they have again?