I don’t normally post gadget and technology news, but I think this news is worth me changing that policy. In the last couple of days Google announced and demonstrated their latest toy, and this time it’s a big one even by Google’s standards. It’s called Google Wave, and it is likely to be the biggest change to the way we use the internet in years – and that may be an understatement.
The Sydney based team within Google that created Wave started with the question “if email was invented today, how would it look”. What they’ve come up with is something that will significantly change, if not replace, all of the following: email, instant messaging, document collaboration, photo sharing, Twitter, Facebook, discussion forums and blogging… just to name a few.
The way they’re doing this is not by inventing a new application, but a whole new protocol. And better still, while they are building their own (browser based) tools to use this protocol, the protocol will be open source and they’re encouraging others to build their own tools. And to make this process easier they’re even open sourcing their tool, meaning you can start with a fully functioning application and just changing it where you think changes are necessary rather than having to start with a blank sheet of paper. They’re also opening up the API and encouraging developers to build add-ons to increase it’s functionality.
Phew, lot’s of stuff there. But that’s really only the start. The video demonstration embedded below is long at 1 hour and 20 mins, but it is seriously worth watching if you want to see how the internet will undoubtedly start changing when Wave is released later this year.
Just think – Twitter is just starting to change how some people use the internet after a couple of years, and the majority of people still don’t “get” Twitter. Facebook has changed the way many people use the internet, but it has taken many years to reach it’s current level of mainstream acceptance and for developers to build some really interesting add-ons for it. In other words, in the early days of a technology we generally underestimate the impact it will have because it takes time for people to think of new and interesting uses for that technology (even the internet itself followe this rule). Now, with that in mind, take a tool that has the whole internet buzzing like I’ve rarely seen before only days after its announcement, and try to imagine what it could mean for us in two or three years given even all of this hype is probably still massively underestimating what impact it will have. This is pretty cool.
So, for those that can find the time, enjoy…
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