![The Big Lebowski (Limited Edition) [Blu-ray Book + Digital Copy]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/512F90yEqdL._SL75_.jpg){kind=small}
Thursday
Oct012009
Google Wave 1.0 = RSS, the Sequel. In Other Words, DoA... for Now
Young Urban ProfessionalYou can't spend any time on Twitter without geeks lusting after Google Wave. Here's my quick take...it has as much chance catching on as RSS did.
I have had a Google Wave sandbox account since late July. It's slick to be sure. However, what I keep asking myself is this: what problem does it solve? In many ways it's overly complex. In fact it's too complex for the era of the Attention Crash where all of us, especially knowledge workers, are crying for simplicity.
Could it be an amazing enterprise collaboration tool? Sure, maybe. Could it be a Twitter, Facebook or email killer for consumers or a cure for cancer? I doubt it.
Wave requires a new way of thinking. Sure, we're capable of it as humans. But as Mike Elgan, Anil Dash and Scoble wisely assess, Wave maybe ahead of its time. We like linearity. We need more tools that, as Jeff Jarvis has written, offer elegant organization - as Facebook and Google do. Wave does not - at least yet. It doesn't solve problems. If three of the geekiest geeks I know are not over the moon about it, then how will anyone else be?
Wave may stall the same way RSS unfortunately did. RSS is one of the greatest Internet innovations of the last decade (thank you Dave!). So why did it never take off with consumers? Simple. It didn't solve problems that many people have. It only solved problems that some, eg info junkies, had. And it required a new way of thinking and operating. (I would argue the entire concepts of feeds only took off once Twitter and Facebook simplified it.)
But what about Gmail you say? Gmail too was a complex beast when it debuted with its conversation views and interface - and it caught on. Yes, but Gmail was different. It solved problems: mail storage quotas and killer search. Thus people were willing to make the investment to master it.
So definitely get excited about Wave. It is way cool. It is real time - where the world is going. But, for now, it does create more problems than it solves. Let's see if Wave 2.0 fixes that.
Reader Comments (41)
Hmmm, and Twitter solved which problem exactly? I think you are partly right, currently Wave won't solve any existing problems, but people will find uses for it and if one or two of those stick then yes, it will be huge.
@Gordon, Twitter did solve problems - the ability to easily post from mobile devices and see the same from others. However, it may not solve enough problems to stick. Speaking of which, read Made to Stick.
If it simple enough, people will find problems that new tech can solve. Which is what twitter did. However, if it is powerful enough, someone geeky might find a way to put a simpler layer in front of it. Perhaps that will be the fate of Wave. Or maybe it will just be DOA. It wouldn't be the first IT project to go that way.
You have to remember that Wave is very early. I think Wave will excel at integration of many web services eventually, but it needs to be opened up so that devs can develop robots/gadgets (a bit like the App Store really sold iPhones).
I'm wandering if Rss had a good marketing or if it had any marketing at all towards ordinary people.. as opposed to the huge Twitter/Facebook media coverage. What do you think?
Problem in need of a solution: Editorial Rooms. There. I said it.
I think RSS failed because of complexity. Remember early on, when you clicked on an RSS button and got code? There was no explanation telling people what to do with it. Too geeky. Looks like Wave will fail due to complexity as well. Google has an issue with this in general.
May I ask a dumb question? This is the second time I read that RSS is either dying or dead. Am I the only one who loves it? What am I missing. I subscribe to 50 feeds and gets dozens of in-depth, interesting articles every day. I know twitter's strength, but it's certainly not in-depth. Someone help me here.
@brian - I don't get this one neither...
@Brian, I love RSS. I probably use Google Reader more than I do any other app short of email. That said, however, it never crossed the chasm - that's a fact.
Great insightful and honest post I always enjoy reading your views as you provide answers!
Very interesting post. It is what I feared but you gave certainty on Google Wave
I'm in the same boat Steve, I think it's ahead of it's time. "In many ways it's overly complex. In fact it's too complex for the era of the Attention Crash where all of us, especially knowledge workers, are crying for simplicity."This reminds me of when I was a Y! intern and in a meeting with Caterina Fake of flickr, where she was taking about how when flickr came out, the whole tagging system was 3-4 years ahead of its time. The vast majority of flickr users did not know how to tag things or what tags were. I feel Wave is the same way right about now.That and XMPP is not fun for developers, I don't think we will be seeing too many interesting Wave-based add-ons.
I think it's going to be extremely helpful for small businesses. There is a bit of a learning curve but I've only had GW for 24 hours and haven't learned everything it can do.Here are some of our thoughts on its added value to the virtual office: http://www.freelancesocialmedia.com/google-wave-for-the-virtual-office/
"But as Mike Elgan, Anil Dash and Scoble wisely assess, .." So 3 die-hard Microsoft worshiper/shills come down hard on it only hours after today's release. Sounds to me like Microsoft is really worried about Wave.
What a load of bullshit. Wave solves the problem of having numerous accounts on various social and other services. It features an open API, quite contrary to the locked-up corporate environments of Facebook and the like. Your post shows a thorough misunderstanding of the most basic facts about the service.Disclaimer: I am not a Google employee.
Yup, read Made to Stick, but I'd still argue that Twitter only solved a technological problem, and how people use it now is an extension of capability, not problem solving. Subtle but different.And I agree that RSS never quite made it. It won't ever die and it may yet have its time.
Haven't had a chance to try Google Wave yet, but really enjoyed hearing this perspective. Thanks for the insight!
Well, I don't agree at all with you comment that it does not solve any problems for the normal user. I got a test account and tried many functions already. It solves an very important problem that everyone has. It does solve the mess that comes with planning a trip, event etc. and sharing the pictures/videos afterwords. This is a frequent daily activity that can be spread many times in 50-100 emails. No more scrolling and searching through old threads of email!! (or at least a lot better sorted). This is truly a time saver. Everyone needs that.
Regarding this last comment from Marcus... I've seen people doing all kinds of cool things to solve the "mess" problem. Personally I'm using ShareIn and Posterous to share stories and photos/media/etc. And the one innovation that I really like is hardware - Eye.fi, which is the camera memory card that flushes the photos/vids off your camera and sends them to Youtube, Facebook, Flickr, wherever - via your local wi-fi net. URLtxtbar is another simple fix that I appreciate. Here are some of my extended thoughts on the simplification issue: http://bit.ly/VIjkAI have not tried Wave.
To wave or not to waveI was impressed by the demo, but at the same time I thought, where is this going. We just got used to social media and already it consumes more time and energy than ever before. Info stress is building and building. I don't see why Google Wave may enrich the lives of most people, as it may cost extra time and energy to follow (and playback) the amounts of waves.So in stead of 'revolutionize' the web, I hope companies will focus more on what really makes our lives more enjoyable, looking at the balance between offline and online time. Technology and social networking should not be a goal itself.
I think its critical how this product - and the others it competes with, evolve over the next 6-18 months. I feel Twitter is reaching a point of diminishing returns already. These technologies turnover so fast, they need to constantly infuse new mechanisms to improve utility. That said, Wave may not be great now, but because of the Google name people will try it, so they have an audience to make it better.
I am just SOOOO sharing your views... why can't my geeky friends understand us ? I'll wait 4 them to try, then come back !
If it's too complex, then simplify it. What's with the everythingsuckism?
Steve, I would love to introduce a technology and have it be only as successful as RSS. A 2005 (!) estimate of the number of people that use RSS (directly or indirectly) in the US and UK was a staggering 275 million!See: http://blogs.msdn.com/alexbarn/archive/2005/10/08/478598.aspxNow I agree that RSS has not become an absolute *magic bullet* that solves every problem there is (nothing has), but it is actually in use, right now, solving millions of real world problems.I think you are right that Wave is of similar importance. I think you are wrong in your assessment of the level of importance. Remember, Wave is in an embryonic stage. But the architecture and processing model have me thinking that you ain't seen nothin' yet in terms of how Wave will be applied.