Above is probably one of the best and most fair presentations of some of the basic elements underlying Google’s new Wave Platform for email and real time communication.
I’ve been a bit hesitant to blog about it. Instead, I wanted to hear what the rest of the world was weighing in on it before I made a jump into the shark-infested waters of early-blah-blah-blah’ing of a new tech.
Here are my thoughts…
Still Very Buggy
The thing breaks on me a billion times over in nearly every browser as I’ve tried some “advanced” combination of activities on it. When I mean “advanced” this sometimes means simply browsing the conversations.
Doh!
But that’s ok. It’s still very much BETA and is not completely open for mass consumption.
Instant Doesn’t Make Me Happy
There’s something simply awesome about not having to answer an email or respond to something instantly. It makes me personally anxious that someone could be reading my email as I type it and then responding to it without having a full idea of what I was trying to convey or say.
Perhaps one of the most troublesome examples is if I’m responding emotionally about a topic without thinking. I do this very often. I’ll sit down after an emotional conversation or email and then begin typing away. What happens though is that I typically draft the email and then sit on it for a while. More often than not I’ll can the entire message because it was more of an emotional response than a logical one.
But what if they were reading that emotion-filled email as I type it?
*shudder*
I think there’s wisdom in taking a second to pause, to think about our responses, and the ability to create instant conversation pieces out of emails makes me personally nervous, even though I understand it could be all in the name of speed and productivity.
Critical Mass and Peer Pressure
Perhaps as the doors open slowly (or with speed) and critical mass occurs then I’ll be forced to change my ways in terms of email. I hope, though, that the above issue can be resolved or at least be an option.
But until then Google Wave simply doesn’t really impress me. Critical mass will force me to. Or, peer pressure will enslave me again. Neither route is very attractive, if I’m honest with myself.
Random Flaming and the BBS Comeback?
Just because you can open conversation with the world doesn’t mean you have to. And I never really liked the BBS spam-central of randomness.
I mean, common… please? Using Google Wave for the glory of God? Does everything have to be so darn spiritual? And asking for “respect” on an open forum is like handing a sharp knife to a serial killer and asking him not to go postal.
Death of Email Theories
No. I don’t think so. I really don’t think email is going to be going anywhere anytime soon. And Google Wave isn’t necessarily a replacement of email either. It’s email but with some advanced real-time communication stuff.
Beware the siren’s call that contains words like “death” for technologies, unless your name starts with “My” and ends with “Space.”
One of things that’s most needed in Wave is some coherent organization that is intuitive. It’s a mess. Email has that and the threaded conversation that Gmail started is genius. Wave makes me nauseus.
My Honest Thoughts Now… and Open Source.
In total, Google Wave doesn’t impress, but I’m not an unbeliever yet. I’m going to wait patiently as it grows and expands it’s userbase.
One of the best things though is that it’s Open Source (to a degree… Google’s “different” when it comes to OS). This could be some of the best news about it as people far more intelligent than Google can come to help build something incredible.
If I had the time I’d be spending some of my waking hours in there, but right now it’s too darn sloppy (and I’m busy).
Cheers.
j3ff says
I like your open and honest thoughts on Wave. I have been experimenting with Wave for the past week or so and have had similar feelings as you do. The current rendition of Wave at http://wave.google.com is chaotic and messy (and of course buggy). It is strange to have people seeing every character, backspace, and misspelling as you type. I don't see Wave replacing email at this juncture, but the possibilities it opens up for real-time communication are interesting.
I am more interested in how developers will use Wave (the platform) to bring us creative products and solutions, yet all the buzz is about Wave being the product or solution. I think when more people get invites they may be disappointed about what they see if they don't understand that when you get into http://wave.google.com it is really just one rendition of what Wave can do, and not its fullest potential.
Aaron says
"And asking for “respect” on an open forum is like handing a sharp knife to a serial killer and asking him not to go postal."
MOST. AWESOME. COMMENT. EVAR!!1!
I also noticed the BBS-esque-ness of it as well. While I've carefully followed several different discussions (and almost always muted them all), I haven't been inundated with the immediate reply problems of someone replying to a discussion I'm having before I've pressed ENTER.
But from what I've seen so far, I don't see a whole lot of value on the open Internets for communication between strangers — but as far as implementation across a team for dissemination of information, it has some awesome potential!
Daniel_Berman says
It maybe the companies like yammer.com and obayoo.com end up striking just the right balance between open discussion and conciseness of context. Just because you can talk to everyone in the whole world doesn't mean you should or even that anyone will listen. Relationship still matters….
Gabe Taviano says
From the little testing I've done, Google Wave doesn't seem as impressive as FriendFeed. It does pretty much the same thing – bar the ability to watch people typing (screwing up) in real-time. And FriendFeed also provides an RSS Feed, which lets you know when a new topic has been brought to your discussion table. And there's that little edge of being able to connect with people you are already connected with on all of the other social networks 🙂
stephenbateman says
Interesting. I rewrite important emails all the time. But I think group collaboration that isn't emotionally charged could be very powerful in this instance. Allowing people to communicate instantly and over a period of time, in the same space, has potential. I think Google has the chance to pull it off!
Graham Brenna says
agreed. just needs a little tweaking.
Ron Rhone says
But if the internet and if people are really using the internet for their church experience, what better platform for prayer than wave? To me this would be the closet thing to group prayer as you can get without being their. I would rather grab someones hand as too maybe feel what their going thru but….
Graham Brenna says
Thanks for reviewing this. I was waiting for you to say something about it. haha. When I first heard about it I was super excited. My 'emotional' reaction was that anything Google produces is going to be straight up gold. I did not get an invitation to test it out but you're right… the real-time replies would throw me off. I do the same thing you do with my emotional responses. I type them out because sometimes it's just good to get that out… even if no one ultimately ends up reading it. Then save it and come back to it later.
Daniel Roberts says
Call me crazy, but isn't this the early days of ICQ all over again? IM is real time enough.
Jim says
i've used it some and like you just don't have the time to sit there all day(like i use to )
Brian says
I'm on wave and would love to add you! What's your @googlewave.com address?