Riding The Wave – Like it or not

 

When I heard about Google Wave I was naturally intrigued. How could I not be – Google has a way

of spreading the gospel in a viral way that makes you believe you need to be connected.  I wiki’d

Google Wave but didn’t get a satisfactory answer so I went straight to the source wave.google.com

and sat through most of a 1 hour+ video taken at the recent Google IO conference.  So here is what

I learned about Wave and, more importantly, about the Google marketing juggernaut.

Wave is, in its simplest form, a communication platform. So is email. In fact, you can think of Wave

as “collaborative email”.  Isn’t email dead? I mean, not for grown-ups, of course. But kids today

think of email as a communication platform like I think of the carrier pigeon – sure it will get the

job done but there are far better ways to do it. So it’s possible that Wave is Google’s attempt to

make email cool again. Or not. Let’s have a look.

When a registered Wave user creates a Wave, a corresponding object is

created on a server.  This object can then be viewed and manipulated by any users associated with it.

The other participants can chat with the object (in which case some, or all, participants might view

the chat in real-time), add images to the Wave (soon to be as simple as dragging files from the desktop),

and they can even determine which participants can access which levels of content (the demo of preparing

a surprise party for one of the participants is often used to demonstrate this last point). So, in a

nutshell, it’s pretty cool technology.  Will it change my life? No.  Will I enjoy using it? Probably.

Do I need it? Absolutely not. However, the Google-heads are in full cram-down mode and are relentlessly

brewing the buzz. In a few weeks, no doubt, there will be those who “get Wave” and those who don’t.

And, let’s face it, you DO NOT want to be in that camp!  Google has mastered the art of the zeitgeist.

If Google says it’s cool – then, by golly, it’s cool.  As I watched the video from the IO conference

I kind of felt this sense of uneasiness – almost like I was being brainwashed and had no control to

stop it.  The video begins with a hip-looking and sounding older guy (probably in his late thirties,

which is Jurassic in Google terms) laying the introduction for, what promises to be, the coolest

new technology in years. And we know it’s cool because, well, for one thing Google made it, and

because it’s on the down-low.  These two elements combine to make it a winner, but only for those who

drink the Google-aid (“and how much do you love Google?”).  Next, came Lars Rasmussen (apparently

the brains behind the product) and a “PM” lady (although she looked to be about 19). Both clad in

ostensibly goofy Wave-logo’d tee-shirts.  The campiness meter spiked to about 7. No, 8. Their

“ad-hoc” banter and casual attitude further served to indoctrinate the, as yet, uninitiated.  Maybe

this Wave thing really has legs.  A few times they compared it to the success of Google maps, which

from what I hear, is a great way to visualize all the strip joints in a given city. This was due, of

course, to the open source API that accompanied the product allowing all sorts of miscreants with

too much spare time the opportunity to dot digital maps with all the “Magic the Gathering” stores.

Now, I have nothing against open-source API’s. They can be great. And surely that’s what Google has

in mind with Wave – let the masses have at it and surely something magical will emerge. What I do have

a problem with is all the “technical mishaps” that occurred during the demo.  Really? You mean to

tell me that the brightest tech guys in the universe didn’t plan for these contingencies?  Unlikely.

Or maybe it was something else. Maybe the “technical glitches” (which were solved

awfully fast, by the way) were purposely interjected to enhance the crunch of the granola. I know,

I know. This is starting to smell like conspiracy theory paranoria. But Google is under constant

pressure to reinvent itself, lest they go the way of Yahoo, or worse yet, that behemoth Microsoft.

This may explain why they nixed the original tagline “Wave: It’s email…with pictures”. Somehow

that just didn’t test well with the iPhone crowd. I mean, the Android crowd.

When I heard about Google Wave I was naturally intrigued. How could I not be – Google has a way of spreading the gospel in a viral way that makes you believe you need to be connected.  I wiki’d Google Wave but didn’t get a satisfactory answer so I went straight to the source wave.google.com and sat through most of a 1 hour+ video shot at the recent Google IO conference.  So here is what I learned about Wave and, more importantly, about the Google marketing juggernaut.

Wave is, in its simplest form, a communication platform. So is email. In fact, you can think of Wave as “collaborative email”.  Isn’t email dead? I mean, not for grown-ups, of course. But kids today think of email as a communication platform like I think of the carrier pigeon – sure it will get the job done but there are far better ways to do it. So it’s possible that Wave is Google’s attempt to make email cool again. Or not. Let’s have a look.

When a registered Wave user creates a Wave, a corresponding object is created on a server.  This object can then be viewed and manipulated by any users associated with it.  The other participants can chat with the object (in which case some, or all, participants might view the chat in real-time), add images to the Wave (soon to be as simple as dragging files from the desktop), and they can even determine which participants can access which levels of content (the demo of preparing a surprise party for one of the participants is often used to demonstrate this last point). So, in a nutshell, it’s pretty cool technology.  Will it change my life? No.  Will I enjoy using it? Probably. Do I need it? Absolutely not. However, the Google-heads are in full cram-down mode and are relentlessly brewing the buzz. In a few weeks, no doubt, there will be those who “get Wave” and those who don’t.  And, let’s face it, you DO NOT want to be in that camp!  Google has mastered the art of the zeitgeist.  If Google says it’s cool – then, by golly, it’s cool.  

As I watched the video from the IO conference I kind of felt this sense of uneasiness – almost like I was being brainwashed and had no control to stop it.  The video begins with a hip-looking and sounding older guy (probably in his late thirties, which is Jurassic in Google terms) laying the introduction for, what promises to be, the coolest new technology in years. And we know it’s cool because, well, for one thing Google made it, and because it’s on the down-low.  These two elements combine to make it a winner, but only for those who drink the Google-aid (“and how much do you love Google?”).  Next, came Lars Rasmussen (apparently the brains behind the product) and a “PM” lady (although she looked to be about 19). Both clad in ostensibly goofy Wave-logo’d tee-shirts.  The campiness meter spiked to about 7. No, 8. Their  “ad-hoc” banter and casual attitude further served to indoctrinate the, as yet, uninitiated.  Maybe this Wave thing really has legs.  A few times they compared it to the success of Google maps, which from what I hear, is a great way to visualize all the strip joints in a given city. This was due, of course, to the open source API that accompanied the product allowing all sorts of miscreants with too much spare time the opportunity to dot digital maps with all the “Magic the Gathering” stores. 

Now, I have nothing against open-source API’s. They can be great. And surely that’s what Google has in mind with Wave – let the masses have at it and surely something magical will emerge. What I do have a problem with is all the “technical mishaps” that occurred during the demo.  Really? You mean to tell me that the brightest tech guys in the universe didn’t plan for these contingencies?  Unlikely. Or maybe it was something else. Maybe the “technical glitches” (which were solved awfully fast, by the way) were purposely interjected to enhance the crunch of the granola. I know, I know. This is starting to smell like conspiracy theory paranoia. But Google is under constant pressure to reinvent itself, lest they go the way of Yahoo, or worse yet, that behemoth Microsoft. 

All this may explain why they nixed the original tagline “Wave: It’s like email…but with pictures”.  Somehow that just didn’t test well with the iPhone crowd. I mean, the Android crowd.