The writings of Peter Stuifzand

Weblog: wave

Update on Google Wave:

Wave has taught us a lot, and we are proud of the team for the ways in which they have pushed the boundaries of computer science. We are excited about what they will develop next as we continue to create innovations with the potential to advance technology and the wider web.

It's sad that Google Wave was cancelled. I use it every day. And altough I have to admit that there are some problems with it, it is an amazing web application for collaboration between a few people. I wrote some project plans and lists of todo items. Other people commented and rewrote posts and I did the same.

I think I would like it to be more like a realtime wiki than a communication device. So it should be easier to link between posts. And as a realtime wiki won't be created by Google and supported, maybe this is the time to salvage some Google Wave technology and build it myself. As if I have the time for that kind of project.

A few days ago I started using Wave for some real projects. I found out that Wave is not really hard to use. The problem is that the network effect is kicking in, but in the opposite way.

Wave is a communication tool. You can use it to send messages and collaborate on projects with other people. And I think the problem here, is that the other people are missing.

I remember the first few years that I had internet. Not many friends were using email. I had email, but I had no one to send emails to. The same is happening with Wave now to. What use is it to send an email to someone, if you can't be sure that that person will read it.

I have a simple solution to this problem: install a Wave notifier. At the moment I use a notifier that works as extension in Chrome. It's non intrusive and shows a little number when I have new unread Waves. No interruption and I can take a look at the Wave that people sent me.

Wave me at peter.stuifzand@googlewave.com.

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