For reasons unclear, I received a Google Wave invitation and, as I'm fascinated by collaborative technologies, I jumped in. Thankfully, I know how to swim.
Please let me relate to you three impressions I have about Google Wave:
1. You wake up in what you think is a bed and you are surrounded by darkness. Very carefully, you ease yourself out of the bed, find a wall and grope your way around the room until you find a doorknob.
In other words, there isn't much about Google Wave that's instantly obvious. One must spend some time with it, get to know it, and find the way.
2. For those with short attention spans, Google Wave may be completely useless or doesn't offer enough differentiation from a chatroom with cool tools and all singing dancing bears. Let me illustrate:
The first picture is what Google Wave looks like for those of us married to ASCII. As I wrote before, it's very much like suddenly appearing in the middle of a strange narrative.
And then there's always the very smart, very cool kid in class who knows how to turn the bunsen burner into a gas-activated handgun. This video illustrates that:
But if we imagine using Google Wave over Time, then the benefits start to shine. Time is very difficult to demo. There are few substitutes for the real thing. Steve Wright once remarked, "Everywhere is within walking distance if yo have the time," and such is the truth. I can see how a problem statement could kick off a wave. I can see a marketing or engineering program kicking off a wave. But this becomes very tricky and many very bright people have tried to find a way through this problem, Ray Ozzie being chief among them.
We know the following:
1. Collaborative technologies are on the verge of something momentous.
2. We've been in this position for the past twenty years.
3. Capitalistic economics is a stumbliung block on the path.
4. When the solution arrives, it will not look like Usenet on acid.
That is all for now. If you want to wave at me, you can find me find me treading water @ briandjohnson at googlewave dot com
