The Termination of Google Wave

We all knew this day would come, but it has now been made official – Google Wave will soon be no more.

Google Wave was positioned as a collaborative “working environment” and although seeming like a useful tool, the platform just never stuck.

Below are details from The Wave Team announcement:

As we announced in August 2010, we are not continuing active development of Google Wave as a stand-alone product. Google Wave will be shut down in April 2012. This page details the implication of the turn down process for Google Wave.

Stage 1: Google Wave is read-only -- January 31, 2012

In this stage, you will no longer be able to create or edit waves. Marking a wave as read will also not be saved.

During this time, you will continue to be able to export your waves using the existing PDF export feature. You’ll still be able to read existing waves and access the Google Wave client.

Stage 2: Google Wave shut down -- April 30, 2012

In this stage, all the Google Wave servers will be shut down and you will no longer be able to get to your waves. Make sure to export any waves you want to save before that time.

I’m sorry for the sad news Wavers…

So the question remains, will Google incorporate “Waves” into Google+?

Google’s Struggle With Social Networking

Once all a buzz, this week Google announced that Google Wave was no more. They no longer plan to develop it as a standalone product. It seemed as if Google Wave never really took off, as many people struggled to find meaningful ways to use it. I wonder if it is because many people use existing communication tools such as Twitter and Facebook, and Google Wave was just too much to integrate into people's lives. Also, it was exclusive at one point, and many people did not have access to it, which may have hurt the success of Wave as well. Google is continuing to work on launching a social product, although so far, they haven’t been very successful yet. Another Google product, Google Buzz, hasn’t gotten much traction either, even though it is integrated into Gmail - which many people use daily as their email client.

I personally use Google Buzz since I use Google Reader and like to share blog posts with my followers there, but only those who follow me on Google Buzz see it, which isn’t many. Because many of my friends use Facebook and Twitter, I see more response there when it comes to sharing news or interesting blog posts. Unless Google can find a way to integrate through Twitter and Facebook, it’s likely that they won’t see much success – unless they create something bigger and better than these two very popular social networking tools.

Google Wave: The Email Killer?

Late Friday evening as I was going through my email, I came across an email I was pleasantly surprised by: a Google Wave invite! I don’t even remember when I submitted my interest (it must have been that long ago), but I do remember this new feature sparking my curiosity. So what’s behind this “Let’s Start a Wave” saying? To sum up the Google Wave, this apparently seems like a not so easy task; Lars Rasmussen compares it to a hybrid of texting, wikis, instant messaging, blogging and emailing. His name may seem familiar as he and his brother, Jens, sold their idea of “Google Maps.”

I haven’t actually sat down to “Ride the Wave” yet, but I must say I’m excited to try it out. I have read mixed reviews but as always, doesn’t Google spark your interest enough to check it out? If you want to learn a little more watch this Google Wave video.