Google catches its newest Wave
Updated on 30 September 2009
The internet giant announces its newest tool, combining email, messaging and wiki-style editing. But will Google Wave turn out to be just another internet fad?
It's the culmination of months of development by the web's biggest company.
Google Wave could be the future of the net. Its developers are even hyping it as a replacement for email, and many believe it could mark a seismic shift in the way we communicate online.
When email arrived it was fairly simple to understand, but it became complicated when attaching documents and pictures. Then came instant messaging and then Twitter, allowing messages to be sent to the whole world - even rewriting what news is.
While Google is so dominant when it comes to search, it is not really active in messaging, so Google Wave aims to talk, share files and work together instantly.
Sites like Wikipedia allow anyone to edit a document. Similarly Google Wave lets you do it in real time - something that could be extremely useful for businesses.
Amazingly, it will also soon instantly translate conversations from one language to another.
It is trying to become the fabric of the internet by allowing other websites to use the technology for free - but using protocols that Google own.
Some believe that Wave's interactivity could even change the nature of news. Despite being in a very early state, the demand for Google Wave accounts has been phenomenal.
When it opened for registration in July Google received 1 million applications to join, and then the first 100,000 were "chosen" to receive the wave.
In fact, the demand has been so high that invites are already on sale on ebay for hundreds of pounds.
But Google has been keen to ensure that the system does not overload, so it has restricted the amount of people using Wave. Today's launch time seemed to be creeping backwards.
