Huh, you sure are giving Google a lot of credit!  Nothing wrong with 
that I suppose.

Me... I'm skeptical.  Email revolutionized communication and became a 
standard way for people to interact on the internet, but there's a 
thousand different email applications, both desktop and web based. 
There's even the divide between plain text and HTML emails.

The web browser may be a better example of a revolutionary 
communications platform that (despite the variety of choices available 
and the differences between them) comes close to presenting a "standard 
interface through which the majority of people interact" with the internet.

Wave *may* just prove to be the standard protocol for a revolutionized 
internet communication (still skeptical) but I just don't see everybody 
interacting with the internet through some sort of Google-made Wave 
Browser.  Google has at least been smart enough to open up the protocol, 
which may make a future where there are several competing Wave browsers 
on the market just like web browsers now.  Perhaps you weren't 
suggesting anything more than that, Patrick.

If Wave proves to be nothing more than another web application that you 
interact with in your web browser, then I don't really see it being 
*the* ubiquitous feature of post-Web 2.0.  I think it'll just be one of 
many things we use.  Well... if we use it at all.  Not all of Google's 
inventions are successful.  And so far, the few times where I thought to 
myself "Ooh! I could use a Wave for this!" I've been really disappointed 
with the User Experience.

Ok, I'll give Google some credit, too: They must be doing something 
right if we're even having this conversation.

Zach


Patrick Haggerty wrote:
> Right now, I think Wave is more a toy than a full tool.  Part of that is 
> its feature set isn't complete and part is that we're all treating it 
> like a toy.  What I think Wave is ultimately going to become is a 
> unified interface for Web 2.0.  If they manage to integrate the service 
> into social networks and blogs and forums and so on, we'll have one 
> interface for the majority of online contribution and collaboration.  
> Sure it's advertised as the next iteration of email, but I think its 
> greater contribution will be to standardize the interface through which 
> the majority of people interact with the web.
> 
> 
> On Wed, Dec 2, 2009 at 9:19 PM, Peter Fleck <[log in to unmask] 
> <mailto:[log in to unmask]>> wrote:
> 
>     Google Wave has been fairly successful in organizing the Other
>     Future of News (OFON) conference. Julio Ojeda-Zapata provides some
>     details at the Pi Press site.
> 
>     http://blogs.twincities.com/yourtechweblog/2009/12/local-media-writer-harnesses-google-wave-for-planning.html
> 
> 
> 
>     ======================
>     Peter Fleck
>     [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
>     612-424-5107
> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> -----------------------------------------------------------
> Patrick Haggerty
> 
> Office of Information Technology
>      University of Minnesota    
> 
> Email: [log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
> Phone: 612-626-5807

-- 
______________________________
Zachary Johnson * Web Manager
Student Unions & Activities
(612) 624 - 7270
http://www.sua.umn.edu/