First, let’s take a look at Google Wave. Click on the thumbnail below for a full sized image.

So as you can see, it looks similar to a standard emailing system right? You’ve got an inbox, spam box, contacts, and a box for your latest conversations. However, Wave is what I would say to be the next generation of Email, or a “collaboration” application if you will. Combine instant messaging with Email and that’s what Wave is for the most part. Currently, access to Google Wave is only available for users who receive an invite (if you would like an invite, leave a comment below). At this point, there is a big lack of users, and still some bugs that need working out. But in its current condition, what can it actually be used for? Anything productive?

Well, first of all, you can now easily get more than one person in on the conversation, as long as they are on your contacts list and have a Wave account. As for the conversation itself, it’s live, but it also keeps history as you can see in the picture. That can be useful for both conversations and email. But is there any point to it other than that? As for a full on conversation, wouldn’t having a VOIP call be more convenient? What about an instant messenger? I’m not by any means bashing Google Wave, as I think it does have potential, but I’m just having a little trouble seeing what the actual use of Wave is, in its current condition.

I must say that one cool feature aside from the obvious fact that it’s almost like an instant messenger and email combined, is the ability to embed things into your conversations, such as videos, or even gadgets (like your weather forecast). Users can also choose to ‘unfollow’ a conversation, which pretty much means leave the conversation, and disable any further messages to be received.

The first issue that I’ve come across is a memory leak problem. It gradually starts eating system resources. I’m sure this will be optimized and fixed in the future, though. Another issue is the lag. There is a feature that enables you to view what your contacts are typing. By this, I mean instead of the app saying “John is typing..” it would actually show the keystrokes as they are typing it. This is a cool idea, but it’s not a very good execution yet, as there is a very big delay, or lag, when seeing those keystrokes on the receiving end. The biggest issue, which I consider to be a possible deal breaker and a circumstance that may decide whether or not Wave is a successful idea, is the fact that Wave users cannot contact Email users. If you have, say a Gmail account. Or maybe Hotmail? You cannot email a Wave user, and the Wave user cannot email you. You will just get your message bounced back. This can be a big problem for Google, simply because they are the only one doing it right now, and they may be the only one that continues on this Wave project. That means a vast majority of people on the internet probably won’t care to switch from Email to Wave. No backwards compatibility is a pretty big problem when it’s something so new, yet does a similar task. Yes, it does function better than standard Email, but nobody is going to care if they 1. Don’t know about it and 2. Cannot contact other Email users who may not have Wave. Last issue is the interface. It’s okay, but it could use some customization, and it is rather cluttered. The interface could definitely use a reworking.

So, with everything that I’ve stated in mind, and your own possible experience with Google Wave, what are your thoughts? Do you love it, hate it, think it’s useless, think it’s amazing? Leave comments below.

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