According to an article on CNN, Google Wave will go out to 100,000 Beta testers on Wednesday. Google Wave consists of e-mail, chat, Wiki documents, blogs and photo-sharing sites to create a form of Internet communication called a "hosted conversation," or a "wave." These 100,000 Beta testers will help to get the kinks out before the product is released to the general public for common use.
The creators of Google Wave, Lars and Jens Rasmussen, believe that Google Wave will eventually replace email as the main way people interact on the internet. New features in Google Wave include, e-mail-like communications being edited by several people at the same time. Also, users of Google wave can talk about sections of Wave documents in real time, where people see what a person is typing as it is typed. If a person comes to the conversation late, they can replay everything they've missed.
In the article, Jens Rasmussen said, “e-mail is a computer version of snail mail. Wave will be something new, a real-time communication system designed specifically for today's faster-paced, multitasking Internet.” Many people in the Tech industry have found this to be a great new application. However, there is some concern that is may be too complex for mainstream use.
This product hopes to change the way we communicate online. If people in the Tech industry are worried about it being too complex, how will the general public react when it is finally unveiled? Is this something is can take the place of email in everyday life?
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I can definitely see this type of communication being of great value to the business sector, especially where large groups of users can view and edit content in real-time. It's hard for me to see this having a truly disruptive effective the use of email by the general population.
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