In case you haven't heard.
So, on Google's "Official" Blog (which one guys? You have so many!) they announced yesterday that they are pulling the plug on Google Wave.
So sad.
I think Wave had some really good potential, but I'll say it here, as I have said it since the beginning, Wave would have never caught on unless it replaced something else. Wave was pretty neat, it was like a Wiki, Google Docs, Gmail, Gtalk, and god-knows-what-else all rolled into one. It worked, it worked pretty well. But it didn't replace anything for anyone. It was a "and also" technology.
Let's Hope
Google rolls some of the technology they developed for Wave into the rest of their products. For instance, simultaneous typing. That could be useful in Gmail and Gtalk.
I think the collaboration-on-documents idea was great. That would be most useful in a corporate setting. I would have loved to use it at Sourcefire.
Design
Some of their design ideas were great.
In a way, I'm kind of sad to see Wave go. There was a lot of really great ideas there. I enjoyed using it.
However, I can totally see how it didn't work for some people. It was confusing. People didn't understand how it was different from anything else they used. As I said, it didn't replace anything they already had, it didn't have a "need". When the iPhone was invented people immediately saw the "need" for it. A phone that is brilliantly easy to use. It also replaced things. It replaced their phone, it replaced their blackberry. It was simple.
Wave wasn't simple. It didn't replace anything, and that is why it failed. People don't need another email system. In fact, they need less.
1 comment:
It really is a shame. It was a great way for other contractors and myself to work on projects together, especially since we were all in different states. Now I'm trying to use iGoogle's widgets (docs, email, notebook) to try and replace it. Not nearly as good. :(
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