Second impression of Wave

Alright, I've had Google Wave for over 24 hours, and it's time to post what I've learned.

First, Wave is NOT for the casual user...  yet.


However, it will be.

There are currently 2 versions of Wave running.  There is the Developer Preview version, also called the sandbox, and there is an invitation-only Beta version.

That causes a problem with extending the functionality.

You see, if you get an invitation, you'll get to join the Beta.  From what I understand, it's more stable and more user-friendly than the sandbox, but the sandbox has been around longer, and all of the third party developers have been playing with it, building their robots and gadgets there.

Therefor, it is very difficult to add a gadget, and all of the robots you can add aren't guaranteed to work.

Plus, the good guys at Google are still working on stability and speed.  Admittedly, stability and speed are far more important than extra functionality...  wiz-bang extensions are useless if the service is down, or it takes too long to access it.

So, the robots and gadgets are hard to find, and need to be improved on.

The core of Wave itself, however, is excellent.  Adding conversations is easy, replying is simple, and once you realize that you can double-click, editing is a snap.  Communicating with other Wave users is as fast as advertised, and if you can make something in a normal web page, you can make it in a wave too.

These two capabilities combined make it perfect for working with other people on any sort creative project.  The benefits for any company, especially small companies with employees in different countries, are immediately apparent.  Even independent workers can greatly benefit, such as bloggers keeping in touch with contributors.  The possibilities are endless.

Bottom Line

So, Google Wave is great, as it is today, especially for businesses and independent creative types, but if the basics aren't deal-makers, you're probably better off waiting until Wave is out of beta.