Google Wave

[sidereal]

Also, think a client so fucking slow that it's unusable.  I haven't logged into wave in a couple of weeks, because I can check all of my gmail in the time it takes the interface to render.

[Venkman]

Yea, this is what I didn't understand about Wave, but the wiki example (plus maybe some Sharepoint notifications sprinkled in) seems to make sense.

I don't get why a company would use this rather than something more established and robust. Except maybe cost? I swear they're turning into the Walmart of features: free/cheap because our business model requires something completely different from the stuff we actually provide.

[caladein]

Well, a wiki is a pretty powerful collaboration mechanic.  If you combine that with federated e-mail-like pervasiveness and robustness (versus having MediaWiki on some web server) it's a rather kick-ass product.

Also, http://completewaveguide.com/.

[Ingmar]

I got randomly added to two waves from what appear to mostly be a bunch of gamers from China.

I have no idea how they found me!

[Oban]

I have four more invites if anyone wants to experience the wave.

[K9]

I got randomly added to two waves from what appear to mostly be a bunch of gamers from China.

I have no idea how they found me!

Sex Leg?

[slog]

Can someone explain why I should care about Google Wave in 2 or 3 sentences?

[Venkman]

I think Prospero's one line from the last page fit.

If you've ever used a wiki, then wave isn't a big leap. Think a wiki with a better push mechanism for changes.

Also, just jerked around with it for a bit. In my limited parlance, this feels like Twitter meets a Wikipedia that allows for the insertion of Google apps. Anyone actually use this for anything other than dabbling?

Edit: updated.

[slog]

I think Prospero's one line from the last page fit.

If you've ever used a wiki, then wave isn't a big leap. Think a wiki with a better push mechanism for changes.

Also, just jerked around with it for a bit. In my limited parlance, this feels like Twitter meets a Wikipedia that allows for the insertion of Google apps. Anyone actually use this for anything other than dabbling?

Edit: updated.

So it's another useless google thing that they will lose money on?

[Prospero]

Either that, or revolutionize the net. It's a really excellent platform for web based tools, and can neatly centralize all of a users correspondence on the net while decentralizing authority. The crude definition is certainly a wiki with push notification, but it is probably more properly defined as a real time collaboration platform.

[Righ]

It's a great technology demonstration of the sort of basic framework needed to support the killer service apps that most of the world's big media corporations are looking for - content clouds with real time telepresence data and micropayment architecture. The problem is that even by Google's standards, this looks a long way from ready. The door is basically open for any giant software company to build a more scalable architecture with toolkits for doing the same sort of shit. Good luck to Google - it's a risky move - they have to pitch software leadership with their technology demonstrations and stay ahead all the way to the end because there are people better positioned to take the trade that they're after.

[Prospero]

I don't see anyone just "knocking out" the combination of their real time content merging and the federated architecture. That shit has to be hard to get right. They also have open standards and open source development on their side. That shit gets a lot of web developers all tingly in the bathing suit area.

[Bzalthek]

If anybody happens to have a spare I would appreciate an invitation.  I'm looking to field test this for some proofs homework next semester.  Thanks.

[caladein]

If anybody happens to have a spare I would appreciate an invitation.  I'm looking to field test this for some proofs homework next semester.  Thanks.

PM me your email and I'll toss you an invite/nomination/thingy.

[Prospero]

I have 30+ invites, so if anyone wants in, PM me.

[Morfiend]

I have 16 invites. PM me your email if you want one.

[Grimwell]

Ok, so a bunch of us have invites.

Have we found anything fun to do with it yet? I see the potential and am waiting for someone to realize it for me. 

[Sjofn]

Someone run us a D&D game!

[Quinton]

It does seem promising for online rpg'ing.  I'd be interested in giving that a try.

[LanTheWarder]

Oooh online RPG now that's a good use. I'm down as well.

[schild]

I don't think this is going to be as awesome as you all thing. But what the hell, why not.

[MrHat]

I don't think this is going to be as awesome as you all thing. But what the hell, why not.

Include me, why not.

[Morfiend]

I don't think this is going to be as awesome as you all thing. But what the hell, why not.

Include me, why not.

Me too. I want to see Wave actually being used.

[sidereal]

I'm also wondering why not.

[Grimwell]

I think the main problem with Wave right now is that it's like the web in 1994. You have to be a geek to navigate it, it's populated with content for geeks only, and there is no polish on any of it. The potential is there, but it's completely rough and without polish. Normal folks just aren't going to find this very exciting.

I'm excited by the potential, but too busy to explore adding to the polish.

[tazelbain]

So it's open to all and stuff.  Is it worth looking into?

[KallDrexx]

I still haven't found a use for it. 

[schild]

It's the iPad of the internet.

Does a lot of things in a really neat way but not very well, replaces absolutely nothing, and serves no great purpose other than seeming slick.

[Prospero]

It's going to be fantastic for design discussions once we can run a wave server of our own. Management is a little leery of having discussions about our trade secrets stored on Google computers. I think they'll have something generally useful once they get the federated server stuff functional.

[KallDrexx]

It's going to be fantastic for design discussions once we can run a wave server of our own. Management is a little leery of having discussions about our trade secrets stored on Google computers. I think they'll have something generally useful once they get the federated server stuff functional.

Why not just use a wiki?

[Ingmar]

It's going to be fantastic for design discussions once we can run a wave server of our own. Management is a little leery of having discussions about our trade secrets stored on Google computers. I think they'll have something generally useful once they get the federated server stuff functional.

Why not just use a wiki?

IMO the wiki interface is significantly more irritating for actual discussion. It is easier to find stuff when you're using it as a reference source, but Wave blows it away for discussion.

[Mrbloodworth]

It's going to be fantastic for design discussions once we can run a wave server of our own. Management is a little leery of having discussions about our trade secrets stored on Google computers. I think they'll have something generally useful once they get the federated server stuff functional.

Why not just use a wiki?

IMO the wiki interface is significantly more irritating for actual discussion. It is easier to find stuff when you're using it as a reference source, but Wave blows it away for discussion.

This. Wiki is good for when you figure out what the fuck.

[Prospero]

Exactly. We use a wiki now for design work and it's passable, but less than ideal. Not only is it hard to have a conversation but once you come to a decision and clean up the comments there isn't a pleasant way to look back at the conversation. The wave history slider seems fairly elegant for that use case. Right now our discussions tend to end up in email which then needs to be linked to the wiki, and usually that doesn't happen. I think wave will wrap this all up very neatly.

[naum]

It's going to be fantastic for design discussions once we can run a wave server of our own. Management is a little leery of having discussions about our trade secrets stored on Google computers. I think they'll have something generally useful once they get the federated server stuff functional.

Why not just use a wiki?

IMO the wiki interface is significantly more irritating for actual discussion. It is easier to find stuff when you're using it as a reference source, but Wave blows it away for discussion.

We tried using Wave for this purpose and it just didn't work well.

Maybe once performance is not a factor and it doesn't crash so often…

[Bzalthek]

I've used this successfully for a full year of working with other students on math proofs, but other than that I have had no use for it.  It might be a good medium if anyone else comes along and uses it as a canvas, but until then I don't see much wide appeal for it.