I haven’t even used Google Wave yet and I’m already bored of it. Not so much bored, I just know it’s not for me.
Google released 100,000 golden tickets into the wild this week, in the process enabling thousands of poor folks to generally make an ass of themselves begging for, spamming about and even selling the exclusive invites. Basically it’s a feeding frenzy of Apple-like proportions clogging up Twitter streams nationwide.
I can understand the fuss to a certain extent, after all it is Google, and real time is HOT HOT HOT. However this app feels more likely to be an ankle slapper than a revolutionary tidal wave.
Here’s why I hate it:
Email has become for many a chore, an endless dance of back and forth to get the job done. For me the inbox is also my to-do list. I use it to organize tasks and pending items. So the last thing I want here is more noise and more things to do or click.
Call me crazy, but there are few things I love more in life than a good IMAP connection and Microsoft Outlook. Yes, I don’t even use Gmail, so maybe that’s why I’m not so gaga over Wave. I’m not sure if I have some type of sickness or I’m just stuck in my ways; all I know is that my email stays sync’d across all my various devices and you won’t see me crying during one of the many Gmail outages.
I think I’ve just been a bad geek, running Windows and not Apple, and Outlook and not Gmail. Forgive me Jobs for I have sinned!
Who should love Google Wave:
Small teams that like to be hyper-connected and hate having actual conversations with one another. As far as collaborative tools go, this platform is amazing. I can see a small team of 5-10 people having a great experience with Google Wave. Sharing docs, appending people into beautiful threaded conversations–it’s all so magical really.
The Stream, The River, The Wave
So I guess the real time web is all about more water, huh? Most of us started with a slow moving stream (Twitter, RSS), eventually graduated to a river (FriendFeed, Aggregation) and so the next logical step would be a huge freaking wave.
That’s a frightening idea in an already saturated space of news, content and people. At some point it all has to be just too much. As we pipe in more and more water to the web I’m really looking for volume control, and at least a bucket to bail some objects overboard.
Take a look at what others have to say and let us know your own thoughts in the comments. Just please don’t ask for an invite. ;)
What Others Are Saying:
- Robert Scoble: Google Wave crashes on beach of overhype
- Louis Gray: Google Wave Hits Shore. Flash Flood Warning In Effect.
- Alexia Tsotsis: Ten Things to Do While You Sweat Out Your Google Wave Invite
