I think you both have valid points. It's a very interesting tool from an experimental point of view; practically, it is still relatively useless. It may morph into something more compelling, though, over time. To me, it's kind of a large and unwieldy Swiss Army knife of a tool. Other things are more simple and more reliable. Combining too much in one package results not only in the general buggyness of it, but then it also just becomes overwhelming to implement in daily life. But the application aspect does have weight. Twitter is another example more like email, that is more of a standard than just a proprietary channel (though it still is that, obviously). But the range of desktop tools has liberated Twitter to reside on my desktop and phone, but in the background just like email. I can choose to read often, or choose to read less often, yet keep them on all the time. So they're omnipresent yet function well asynchronously. I haven't tried anything like this with Wave yet, but I can't imagine logging into Wave and just leaving it on all day in a browser window in case something interesting happens. It seems like it requires immediate attention and very intentional engagement for it to do its intended purpose. Though I could be wrong and maybe if I didn't find so much practical utility in Twitter, Wave might seem more appealing. But Wave seems more like an online presentation or meeting (or -- gasp -- a live webinar); Twitter is more just a casual watercooler conversation (though with more people). And maybe these tools appeal to various people differently, depending on their personality types? So anyway, see you on Twitter instead. =) On Dec 3, 2009, at 9:53 AM, Zachary Johnson wrote: > 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/