Some 100,000 invitations went out Wednesday to Google users, application customers, and developers to surf the Google Wave. The new online tool enables users to do everything from set up a social hour to posting photos in real time.
The wave is both a conversation and a document where users can discuss and collaborate with photos, videos, maps and text. Invitees who accept Google’s invitation are tasked with reporting any bugs or inefficiencies they see on Google Wave.
Because of the real-time communication, users can reply anywhere in the wave, edit the content, and add users at any point, according to Google. The tool also allows users to play back a wave to see who said what and when.
The wave is different than anything else available because the real-time element allows users to have faster conversations, according to Google.
Interpret analyst Michael Gartenberg isn’t waving yet, but said that while the tool seems like an interesting play, adoption may be limited. “A lot of the ideas of wave help overcome the issues people have with e-mail, but at the same time it’s a closed system, totally dependent on Google, which will limit both usefulness as well as adoption,” he said.
Google Wave developer Lars Rasmussen said engineers have been focused on wave’s scalability, stability, speed and usability, and the tool is not ready for prime time. That’s why invitees are being asked to preview the tool.
Users should expect the “occasional downtime, a crash every now and then, part of the system being a bit sluggish, and some of the user interface being, well, quirky,” Rasmussen said.
Engineers also warn users that key features of Google Wave have not yet been fully implemented.
“For example, you can’t yet remove a participant from a wave or define groups of…