Saturday, October 31, 2009

Google Wave

Google Wave is breaking new ground in the collaborative environment. I know that people are not happy about having to wait for invitations or the system isn't running perfectly. It is PREVIEW or pre-beta. Google has broken new ground by opening up development projects that would normally have never been used or even known for months later. They use the feedback from these experiences to further improve the software for the public release. By involving ourselves in this endeavor we, the community, have certain responsibilities:

  1. Be patient and realize that Google has their schedule and that schedule may change at any time. We don't influence the schedule
  2. Realize that any part of the system may or may not work at any time. By agreeing to participate we were not guaranteed a working system
  3. Provide honest feedback about the functionality and suggest improvements

Other software providers who have been traditionally closed are slowly moving in this direction. We, the preview testers, can make this the way of the future by working with the providers and not against them.

For a good introduction to how to use Wave visit Gina Trapani's Wave 101 at: http://lifehacker.com/5376138/google-wave-101