So, I’m trying this Google Wave thing out. Heard about it? Apparently the idea is is
What would email look like if it had been invented recently, and not forty years ago?
It’s one of those special-preview-invite-only kind of things for now. Somehow I got an invitation — not sure how — but I’m checking it out. It’s kind of lonely until you’ve got some other users in the sandbox to play with. I’ve been equipped with a number of invitations and have already sent out a few. If you’d like one, and are willing to play around with Google Wave once you get one, let me know. You can also request your own invitation directly from Google here.
I suspect this is going to be one of those things that cutting-edge or at least open-minded users will embrace quickly (if the concept proves to have merit at all). And everyone else will lag behind, still using their Internet Explorer 6 browsers and Yahoo! or Hotmail email addresses. That would be the critical point; I’m not looking forward to having to check email at one site AND my waves at two different sites. Maybe they’ve thought of this already — a way for Wave users to get all the benefits of the Wave and everyone else — the non-believers and Luddites — to hang back in the comfort zone of their traditional email.
