The first reader request came in, and one of my favorite corporate slaves wanted me to take a look at the latest web application from Google.
When I first heard about Google Wave, I was ready to be impressed with the latest innovation from the once simple search engine. After all, the same engineering team the developed the wave also created Google Maps which we all rely on to get us where we're going.
The best way to describe Google Wave is a cross between GMail, Live Documents, AIM, Facebook, and Flickr. The big idea behind the tool is to create a new way to share and edit documents all in real time. It is impressive to watch someone add photos, make spelling corrections, or simply rename a document inside a browser and see the same changes happen on someone's screen.
Check out the video for a more in depth look at what the wave is designed to do.
While the wave hasn't been released to the public yet, Google's demos have shown that there are some problems that still need to be worked out. I'm not a fan of the open editing. For example, I could go into your comments on a blog's wave and change them. While yes you can see who made the changes, and go back to fix them, it still seems like a bit of a hassle.
I'd also like to see a direct connection feature similar to AIM, making it easier to move files from one person to another.
I think the one feature holding back the wave the most would be a lack of video or voice chat. Video conferencing is just one of those things that Skype users have really come to enjoy.
While Google Wave might not want to be the end all be all of internet interaction, it definitely is shaping up to be the next need to have online tool.
No offical release date has been set yet, but late last month Google sent out 1,000 beta user invites.
Check out the full Demo from Team Google.
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