An Early Impression of Google Wave

Google Wave is a combination of email, IM and a Wikis with the obligatory "open API" (which is still Google's). It is according to its creators "“what email would be if it were invented today.”

Actually, email is what email should be today - it has evolved organically over 15 years and is amazingly robust considering the thrashing it gets daily. The problem with email is that it is too heavily used and good for its own good.

We had a look at Wave today, but as yet there is not a lot one can get ones teeth into yet - our take so far is that the main questions are around:

(i) It's an attempt at being a "unified communication" system but we're not sure of the functionality that has been unified. The problem with these systems is that users need a metaphor e.g. emails like a letter, twitter is like SMS and in its turn SMS was a bit like a telegram.

(ii) What is the Pro Quo you pay for Google putting in the quids to subsidise it? who is in control? Who owns the data?

(iii) What happens when the Cloud breaks - how easy is i to keep My Documents?

Most of the reviews are of course gushing, which is odd as there is so little there to play with, but hey. We found this grumpy one though

Among the many interesting questions about Wave is this: Is it bloatware? It’s not ready for release yet, and it appears to already be bursting at the seams with features. Screenshots show a service that crams dozens of features, options, and snippets of information on to the screen–less an example of Google-esque minimalism and more like a Microsoft app that’s been through a few versions and is shoehorning stuff in.

Update - actually, GigaOm has also been a bit grumpy