"Wave" - Google's new tornado

As most of my colleagues in the software industry concede, those of us working in front of the computer for at least 8 hours a day, spend, on an average, a couple of hours checking emails, updates from friends and acquaintances and news of interest - in general, the check for updates is perpetual throughout the day - whenever there is a free moment, or when a break is needed - the brain directs the hand to go and open the browser and do the needful... And more often than not, there is no need to even "open" a browser... it's already open with the necessary "tabs" that might not even need to be updated! Anyways, today morning, I saw a "facebook" update from a friend, with a link to "Google Wave preview". As is customary, I opened the link and was bowled over by the video. I could not stop myself from immediately sending an email out to a few friends about the new addition to the google "family". Then, I sat and watched the whole presentation - it was really commendable, to say the least. I don't remember the last time I blogged about technology - so here goes - a variation from the previous few posts!

I was truly spellbound by the vast set of features provided by the product, and the best thing about the whole protocol/application is that it is extendible and "OPEN-SOURCE". The software community can contribute to the development of the system. I can go on and on about the divine advantages of "open source" software - maybe a topic for another blog, sometime! Anyways, the "Wave" boasts of a set of features that I would actually love to have in my daily usage - practical and cool, at the same time. A brief array that I can remember from the hour long presentation:
-- Integrated email and chat - this is different from the traditional model in the concurrency and organisation; the look is totally cool and user-friendliness is unparalleled; very intuitive
-- Playback history - this was something that really caught my attention; this is such a cool feature and useful too; it could be integrated with any sort of communication - email, document sharing, chat...
-- Group conversations - add participants, private trees (privacy doesn't leave local server); really secure and neat
-- Drag/drop for attachments - Easy to use, cannot get cooler with concurrent viewing and updating capability
-- Embedding of other sites/features - blogs, orkut
-- Mobile application - obviously, they have the app on cell phones as well
-- Collaborative editing and source control for document production - I thought this was really nice and has great utility for us engineers who need to keep updating documents; a maintenance of the history of updates is also impressive
-- Real time translation between languages - the app seems to automatically translate the conversation to the language that was set
-- A lot of other features like "cooler" spell check, concurrent editing, games with playback, plugins for invitations, maps, polls, twitter, bug management, games

The really great thing about the entire application is that in spite of the huge feature set provided, it seemed very efficient and fast. I was completely dazzled by the concurrent editing feature. As always, google has proved itself as the front-runner in technology - and to think that they are ready with this in a just 18-24 months - it is simply mind-blowing (they might have had their reasons for "coming out" so soon... nevertheless, the effort is exemplary).

The other facet of the presentation that caught my attention was that the indefatigable Murphy's law held true to its veracity. A few features did not go as expected - some took longer, some just did not work! But the presenters were really good at what they did. They had a backup for last minute failures that happened, they started with an attention-grabbing feature... and ended with a bang! They could sell the product to a group of software developers and the world in a pertinaciously admirable manner. I realise that delivery and presentation are quite important. But just those attributes without substance fall flat on the face. This group had both.

I am also quite awed by the acumen of the company. They have realised that to live in this world, they have to live in the present, and in the future simultaneously. They learnt from their past mistakes. Proprietary software is not the way to go - open up the source code, but realise that they'd still be profitable if enough people use it. They envisage that open source developers form a huge driving force for the success of any product these days. Though I am not completely cognizant of the pros and cons of the business model involved, I comprehend that this seems to work in the customer oriented world, with a good feel of transparency about it. I do not think I could unequivocally declare that "Wave" is the best communication/collaboration tool ever, since I am pretty sure there will be something that will beat this, and in the near future - that is the beauty of technology and innovation, but I could say it is right there at the top.

I was also surprised that there was not a single Indian among the presenters/engineers that were in the video. Considering that a sizeable portion of the software community is Indian, I was expecting a couple of "desi" faces, or at least a few names in the "friends" list on the application. I tried to reason that the anomaly could be attributed to the fact that there might not have been a forum for "all" engineers/innovators to be present in this team. Since the guy who introduced the team was Indian, I guess there were other "desis" who presented from other teams.

One of the statements that the presenter made struck a chord in me... "We think the world will be a better place if this was an open system and everyone could build services into it." I was left wondering... how true the statement is... open minded people ready to accept the new things life has to offer, ready to accept the idiosyncrasies, ready to contribute to the overall development... how ideal would that be!