Ok, so after weeks of begging, pleading, and potentially scamming the good (or mind-controlling, all seeing, information privateers) over at Google labs for a coveted Google Wave invite I stumbled upon one from a friends classified ad like AIM status announcing he had invites to spare. I jumped on the opportunity. Thus far, Google Wave has been an utterly fantastic disappointment. Here’s why…
First off, what good is a social networking tool if it doesn’t allow you to integrate your social network? I get it Google, you did it with Gmail, you did it with Docs, we all know you like to Beta test your stuff for an unreasonably long time, hell some people have even asked you to put that cozy ‘Beta’ back on Gmail for looks. One of these days though, people are going to stop getting all giddy about your apps just to be let down like a kid who put out cookies for Santa and saw his dad eat them. (My ambivalence toward Google I’m sure will rear its ugly head even more throughout this post, bear with me for there is a reason. ) If Google really wants to make Wave function and feel fluid like a, well, wave of conversation and information it needs to fluidly integrate with Outlook, Thunderbird, Facebook, Twitter, basically the works (starting to get the theme here?). And while I’ll, for the time being considering the ‘preview’ status of Wave, give it the benefit of the doubt, I really don’t know if Google was considering going in this direction. Granted, no one is really riding the Wave yet, so we will continue to watch it. But that’s ok. I have a dream of a perfectly integrated Social Media Life in which Wave will replace my AIM conversations, casual chit-chat e-mails, Google talk conversations, and Gchat pings. Now I know why he was trying to get rid of those invites… The potential, which excites and frustrates me, is endless. I’d also like to be able to ride the Wave endlessly for work collaborations. Wave’s potential…
