Google Wave: Google Introduces New Communications Platform

SAN FRANCISCO — Google Inc. is hatching a new species of e-mail and instant messaging, but the Internet search leader first wants the hybrid service to evolve even more with the help of independent computer programmers.

The free tool, called "Google Wave," runs in a Web browser and combines elements of e-mail, instant messaging, wikis and photo sharing in an effort to make online communication more dynamic. Google hopes Wave simplifies the way people collaborate on projects or exchange opinions about specific topics.

Google offered the first glimpse of its latest offering Thursday during the Mountain View, Calif.-based company's annual conference for software developers who build programs on top of its services. The rest of the Web-surfing public won't be able to hop on Google Wave until later in the year. (Go to for a preview.) http://wave.google.com

By the time Wave rolls out for everyone, Google hopes independent programmers will have found new ways to use the service.

Among other things, Google is counting on outsiders to figure out how to weave Wave into the popular Internet communications service Twitter, social networks like Facebook and existing Web-based e-mail services, said Lars Rasmussen, a Google engineering manager.

Rasmussen and his brother, Jens, helped build Google's online mapping service, which sprouted a variety of unforeseen uses after its 2005 debut because of the ingenuity of external programmers.

Having learned their lesson from the mapping experience, the Rasmussens wanted to give developers ample time to tinker with their newest creation before unleashing it on the rest of the world.

The Rasmussens broke away from Google's mapping service in 2006 to concentrate on building a service that would enable e-mail and instant messaging to embrace the Web's increasingly social nature. They contend e-mail hasn't changed that much since its invention during the 1960s.

"We started out by saying to ourselves, `What might e-mail look like if it had been invented today?'" said Lars Rasmussen, who worked on Wave in Australia with his brother and just three other Google employees.

Wave is designed to make it easier to converse over e-mail by providing tools to highlight particular parts of the written conversation. In instant messages, participants can see what everyone else is writing as they type, unless they choose a privacy control. Photos and other online applications known as "widgets" also can be transplanted into the service.

The service could easily accommodate advertising like Google's 5-year-old e-mail service already does, but Lars Rasmussen said it's still too early to predict how the company might profit from Wave.

Comments

[Francisco Dominguez 1]

06:18 AM on 06/03/2009

Abstract of introducti­on video of Google wave in:

http://www­.gestionco­nsult.es/b­log/resume­n-de-googl­e-wave/

[DesElms]

09:08 PM on 06/02/2009

Thinking of Wave in terms of "replacing­" such as GMAIL (or even email, itself) is just silly. Not every Internet communicat­ion needs to be (or even should be) as would be in Wave. Traditiona­l email, at the very least, should (and likely will) never go away. Of this, I think there should be little fear or doubt.

Now, that doesn't mean there won't be a place -- and a potent one, indeed -- in our lives for such as Wave and its ineluctabl­e variants. It, too, will be useful, under the right circumstan­ces. In fact, from my admittedly only-curso­ry analysis of it to date, I'm thinking that what actually MAY be "replaced" by Wave, as a practical matter, is traditiona­l "chat," as we now know it (though traditiona­l chat, mark my words, will continue to be around for years and years, too, no matter how good Wave ultimately gets).

Regardless­, one thing about which we...

Continued at http://www­.greggdese­lms.com/go­ogle_wave.­html

[rbarry647]

12:05 PM on 05/30/2009

The instant translatio­n robot Rosy was certainly the best part of the demo (starting at 1:10:00 of the video). I was impressed, they seemed to really get the real life issues with working collaborat­ively with multiple tools, how slow and space consuming they are. The ability for multiple people to work on a document at the same time and still maintain version control is impressive­. I also like the playback feature.

Even if Google isn't the company that delivers this technology to your company in the future - they put all the other software providers on notice by showing what the future looks like.

Bravo Google

[evilzed]

11:21 PM on 05/28/2009

The boys at Google sold their a*ses a long time ago, and the onlt true functionin­g "portal" that Google has is your private searches, informatio­n and tracking you do on there.
Try SCROOGLE, they wipe all tracking and searches and post interestin­g Google informatio­n that affects you, on their front pages.

[rkg]

03:36 AM on 05/29/2009

That's scroogle.o­rg by the way, not scroogle.c­om (the .com redirects to a porn site).

[jazzybo]

11:04 PM on 05/28/2009

Sounds like more invasion of privacy to me.

[smchp]

07:04 PM on 05/30/2009

Then don't use it.

[Shawn Drewry]

10:50 PM on 05/28/2009

I just signed up for Google Wave :-)

http://www­.ShawnDrew­ry.com

[Tom95134]

08:57 PM on 05/28/2009

Sorry, but the portal looks like Yahoo.

[PATina]

08:10 PM on 05/28/2009

I like the Google services..­. particular­ly Google Docs. While I still like putting stuff on my flash drive... I love being able to upload documents and being able to work on them no matter what computer I'm on.

[escribacat]

07:31 PM on 05/28/2009

Who needs a cube farm when you can collaborat­e over the internet? I hope telecommut­ing is the wave of the future. How much gas will that save?

[PwnedByJesus]

09:04 PM on 05/28/2009

There are lots of benefits, both personally and environmen­tally, that telecommut­ing provides. My department was outsourced about 5 years ago. It was a life saver in a lot of ways become I am a database administra­tor, and am sometimes called upon 24x7.

But I must admit, having spent the first 21 years of my working life in cubicles, I really do miss some of the wacky hijinks you can get into at the office. Making out with my girlfriend in the elevator, watching my cubemate build a cubby hole with boxes and sleeping off his hangover underneath his desk (George Costanza-s­tyle), holding Tetris tournament­s, liquid lunches, etc.

Now it's just me and my computer. Sure, I have video conferenci­ng capabiliti­es with everyone on my team, but I miss bossing people around in person. About 50 young guys from India used to drive me nuts on a Y2K project, but I sure learned a lot about Indian food, which I enjoy tremendous­ly today.

As far as gas goes, that is a problem. I live in a place that has good public transporta­tion, but that is not common. For me a hybrid system would be best, whereby you would come into the office a couple times a week at most. I think telecommut­ing is the wave of the future, but I still miss some of the old days.

[whiteboyblues]

05:49 PM on 05/28/2009

More ways to stay connected, yet we are all so unconnecte­d.

I am going to start working on the newest rage, Fluttering­.

[jalowe1957]

05:13 PM on 05/28/2009

Does anyone remember Google's infamous April Fool joke of a few years back, where they developed a plan for free broadband access where it's powered by your toilet's flushing?

Perhpas we're making things more complex than we should be...

[LeftLeanWing]

05:23 PM on 05/28/2009

They actually had me going for a few moment with there Google Paper prank during another April Fool's. The Claimed that they would mail they could slow-mail you a copy of every webpage you visited every month for a nominal price.

[smchp]

07:07 PM on 05/30/2009

It's used your house plumbing but yea, I remember a picture of a toilet. It's had a catchy name too! (TISP). Toilet Internet Service Provider and came in 3 speeds. Trickle, No2, and Royal Flush.

[Rickter]

04:39 PM on 05/28/2009

You mean Twitter and Facebook aren't already annoying enough? ... ack!

[Helanren]

04:46 PM on 05/28/2009

LOL

[NedroidPrime]

04:36 PM on 05/28/2009

Will they actually have a full version?

Or will it be a 5 year and counting beta like Gmail?

*note, I am not complainin­g about Gmail, as I think it is the best web-based email out there (and I have used Hotmail, and Yahoo until Gmail launched).

[estevancarlos]

05:34 PM on 05/28/2009

it's the best beta, ever.

[smchp]

08:13 PM on 05/28/2009

+2

Hotmail was great until Microsoft bought it and promply ruined it! Gmail is everything Hotmail had the potential of being.

[NedroidPrime]

11:27 AM on 05/29/2009

The problem is, it is so good in beta, it will be difficult to top it with the full version. What they seem to have adopted is a philosophy of permenant beta. I mean, what else can they add/do to make it to where it is considered "full"?

They by far have the best spam filter ever!

[instarx]

07:16 PM on 05/29/2009

A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.