The invite-only test run of Google Wave sent folks into a frenzy last week, so I felt compelled to see what all the fuss was about. I received an invite from a friend and the two of us started experimenting with some of the functions.

Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

After exploring for about 20 minutes, I was not impressed. In fact, I was frustrated. The “collaborative” element of the program would more accurately be described as “annoying.” When typing a message to someone, having a conversation or drafting a note, another user can watch as you make typos, and vice versa. What’s more, another user can go into the message you’re writing and add to it in real time. Not only is this whole process extremely agitating, but I’m not sure I see any convenience in it…at least not yet.

With such a small number of people with current access to Google Wave, getting acclimated to the tools and functions is fairly difficult. My hope is that with more testing and development Google Wave will prove to be a less complicated program and a more useful tool for businesses and everyday use. As it stands, I’m going to wait for a better swell to come in.

Have you tried it out yet? What did you think?

Tags: Google, Google Wave

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 20th, 2009 at 5:12 pm and is filed under Around the Office, General Blogginess. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.