geoffeg

I am always surprised to see Google Wave become a trending topic on Twitter. My impression of Twitter’s user base never matches reality. The geeks, software developers and general IT types still seem to make up a large percent of Twitter.

Anyways… I watched the Google Wave keynote/introduction video.. maybe more than once. Does watching sections over and over count? The hype is everywhere. Google Wave is the next awesome thing! Or maybe not! My main concerns stem from what may, at first glance, seem like an over-engineered solution to a problem that may not exist. If I remember correctly from the video, the original idea was to come up with a modern replacement for email and real time internet communication in general. Wave’s primary goal seems to revolve around communication based on streams, where everything happens immediately. Documents are shared with groups and can be viewed, edited, updated and distributed to other groups as quickly as working on them in a conference room. Wave also seems bent on replacing email as we know it.

Wait, what? The technologies and protocols behind a simple email to your friend are some of the oldest and simplest that exist. Sorta. Because of a lack of SPAM prevention, built-in encryption and security (in both the protocol and the messages themselves) and a host of other problems email has become a hairy beast. I can understand why Google wants to replace the whole system and start from scratch but their solution seems unnaturally complicated. New protocols, new architecture, new interfaces, new new new. If Google wants to supplant email and its related technologies it’s going to need a massive strategy to get Wave implemented on as many devices and systems. I’m not convinced that a system invented in 2008/2009 is going to be better than 1970s.

That said, when I get a Google Wave invite I’ll surely play around with it and change my mind and express how awesome it is. That’s right, I’m gonna WAVEr on my opinion. GET IT… ahhh.. I amuse myself.