My Thoughts On Google Wave

I don't think Wave will catch on to the point that it will replace email because unfortunately everyone is not always available, and because the truth of the matter is lots of people don't care for direct interaction. I for one often let calls go to voicemail because I dont feel like talking. I will let snailmail go unopened because I don't feel like dealing with it or just have other things to do. Just because someone can interact doesn't mean they will interact.

Now don't get me wrong I had an opprotunity to deal with a developer last night for about 20 minutes and we exchanged more information and ideas then we could have in 6 months of e-mail and that was fantastic. Yesterday I had the opprotunity to deal with Verizon on the telephone for about 1 hr. I was unable to log onto their site but wanted more information about one of their dell notebooks. I had to ask her to send me a link and then wait and listen to hold music and on and on. Had we been sharing a wave we could have taken care of everthing including the customer agreement much faster. She could have dropped in the picture and spec sheet of the machine along with the cost, my usage, current bill, etc etc....

One other thing that concerns me about the wave is that it will basicly bring what I think of as the gutternet to the forefront. I can easily imagine pick up rooms, porno rooms, pedo rooms, drug rooms, gang rooms, etc etc... Back in the day I used to chat in the old MSN rooms and basicly the things that went on there were the biggest reason they were shut down.

The bad news is that new things often lead to the Government offering new regulations. That we don't need. I think probably they will end up requiring a user in every room to basicly be signed in and the true owner or moderator that will make someone legally responsible for any illegal activity that goes on there. This moderator status may be no more than having a verified gmail account in order to create a room, but they will have to require something.

Will the Wave catch on? I think it depends on what catch on means. Will it be the next twitter or facebook? I think not. Google has never really made an effort to go after the young trendy crowd with their adds or services because thats not where the real money is.

When it's all said and done I think it will be not only a common but essential tool for the person that makes even one dime off of the internet or the person that orders anything other than from ebay or barns and noble. My prediction is that in 4-5 years when this is all said and done the wave will have done to email what the telephone did to snailmail. It won't replace it but it will be another tool for when you need to get something done now.

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