Riding the Google Wave

After much anticipation Google has begun rolling our Google Wave to selected users. They are doing this much the same way that Gmail was introduced, you must be invited to the party. I was lucky enough to receive my invite a few days ago and have been able to waste a few hours playing around with it.

At first brush it may just seem like a glorified chat room. However, if you start to dig a little deeper it is quite clearly more than that. Wave takes everything that Google has done up to now and rolls it up into a single collaborative space. It is an entirely new way to communicate, a hybrid of multiple Google applications and communication functions. It all takes place in real time, a boon for anyone trying to work on a project with multiple people across the internets. It takes the Google Docs philosophy to a whole new level.

Wave seems to indicate the direction Google is heading in terms of usability and integration. So, try to snag an invite and see what it is all about.