The Steve Rubel Stream

For Google Wave to be considered a success, it doesn't need to be a hit with the masses. For one, Google doesn't need their revenue from Wave use. If it is a useful business collaboration tool - and it's certainly not the first - that could be enough. After all, using email for project work is an inefficient tool to say the least.

An "elegant solution" to confusing emails, collaborations, etc is Pixetell. It combines the thoughtful composition of email with voice and visuals. Evolutionary, not revolutionary. Intuitive enough for those that are not technically advanced.

Steve: I just signed into Google Wave for the first time since Saturday. It's even worse than I imagined. Slow and noiser as more people get onto it. It has all the problems of email and introduces new ones. That said, there's SOME brilliance here, but they should have started out by getting rid of the email metaphor and built something really new and feed based.

@Robert, I totally agree. It's a mess. Where's the Google magic in helping us find signal in the noise? Isn't that what they are good at?

I agree the email metaphor is a bad one, but remember what you see when you log on is just one possible client, one possible interface, to something that's admittedly raw and under development.

What you don't immediately see is the cleverest part - the protocols that are making it possible. That's why they only released it to developers, because they're the ones who could get excited about a protocol vs. a client.

It's not just email redefined. It's much bigger than that. Consider for a sec that the major hurdle to more people using cool stuff like google docs is having a google account. Where they're heading with this - because it's federated - is something with the ease of uptake of email (any email provider can send email to anyone else) and the power of Google Docs + additional cool tricks as lagniappe.

Yes, it's complex, but some things have to be complex yet remain important. This might mean it won't be a runaway success immediately with the average home user of gmail, but is that even what they're shooting for?

"I believe Wave will become a great new way for small, digitally savvy teams to work together in real-time. Initially, it will be for workgroups and its deployment will come from bottom-up from knowledge workers, rather than top-down from CIOs. It will be used for collaboration between not just employees but also companies and influential customers."

This is me. Can't wait for my invite.