Making Waves
Most of the time, I think my optimism and enthusiasm is justified, because life regularly turns out to be at least as amazing as I expect and imagine it will be. But sometimes…not so much.
I was really, really excited about Google Wave when I first learned about it. I snagged an invite to start playing with it as soon as I could. And after two months of experimenting with Google Wave, I have to say…meh.
I’ve tried using it for conversation, but it doesn’t facilitate conversation any better than email, IM, Twitter or FriendFeed. I’ve tried using it for collaboration, but it doesn’t do that better than Google Docs. I appreciate that it’s in beta, and I’m prepared to believe that in a year or two or three, Google Wave will be where it’s at. But right now, it’s a lot like Second Life to me: flashy and interesting, but ultimately kind of boring and of little real use to me.
December 16th, 2009 at 12:03 pm
Josh-
Thanks for the trial, and for your evaluation! Not everyone will be as forthright as you have been. (Of course, that is why I follow you.)
December 20th, 2009 at 9:11 pm
Josh, I agree. I too was excited when I got my invite (from you! Thanks!), but I just never found a way to incorporate it into my online life. My work colleagues are nowhere near being interested in something like this (the Cape is 20 years behind the times), and to me it doesn’t seem like something I would use with my online friends. I feel like this definitely has BUSINESS potential in the tech world, but that it doesn’t lend itself to my work (yet?). I don’t see it becoming a social tool….