Way back in June I wrote a post about a new Google project that was under development named Google Wave. I was eagerly awaiting a chance to try it out but I knew it would be a long wait. Yesterday I finally received an invite to Google Wave (via my sister!). I quickly made the plunge and was in my first “wave” within minutes.
My initial impressions of Google Wave left me feeling like it was nothing more than a glorified online chat program. Although the more I played with it the more I understood what capabilities it can bring to the table. I will go out on a limb and claim that Google Wave is now the best program for online collaboration.
Aside from the fact that Wave makes it easy for many users to come together and discuss and share whatever they please, the inherent advantage of Google Wave is that it is part of the line up of Google applications. This will make it simple for anyone to start a Google Wave account since they likely already have a Google email and password (or atleast everyone should).
I found it rather amusing that Google wave is optimized for, and really only works on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Safari. I don’t know if this is a permanent move or if Google plans to extend support to other browsers in the future. Either way it’s a good reason for other browsers to stay on good terms with Google because they have significant power and can possibly influence a person’s choice in browsers if they do not support some options.
I’m still exploring all that Google Wave has to offer so stay tuned because I may find some features that I really enjoy and will have to post my findings.
*And yes, as of writing this I still have 3 invitations left to dish out so leave me a message if you wish to be invited! First come first serve.
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