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Save Google Wave

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Re: Save Google Wave

#51

Post by Concours »

DrStalker wrote: post #37
Devilboy wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do people really think like this?

It wasn't obvious to me what it was for or how to use it, no-one I knew personally was using it, and I don't have the free time to casually learn an entire new paradigm to do... whatever it was you did with Wave.

Google wave is not really that complex, first thing to do before using it is to watch the video demo (I'm almost sure very few peoples did it), it's a collaboration and productivity tool, so you just can't invite your friends to use it at this stage, you can invite your colleagues and employess, but it's not a product targeting any casual Joe friend, but google seems to expect peoples to adopt it as such. You probably won't ask your friends to use a task management tool to keep in touch with you or what you do. I'm glad it may stick around for sometime,I hope forever, too bad, they will no more work on it.

Re: Save Google Wave

#53

Post by jbooth »

derefr wrote: post #35
jbooth wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's terrible reason. If it was a startup, they'd either sink or swim. Maybe better marketing would have helped, maybe the client sucks, maybe the concept sucks. But there's no reason for Google to throw good money after bad, it's not like there's nothing else they could be working on (including the next, better Wave from the etherpad guys).

> But there's no reason for Google to throw good money after bad That's the thing—they haven't thrown any money at the problem at all. The whole problem is that it was a half-hearted effort from the start; Google didn't put Wave anywhere visible, they didn't integrate it with Gmail or Google Talk, or do anything else to get traction. They just sort of put it out there and hoped people would subscribe. That's how prod…

Well, sure. But maybe if the one client they had was better or the protocol more natural it would've had more uptake. Or maybe there's just not enough of a need for those rival corporations to take up anything wave-like.

At this point, considering the Etherpad acquisition, you have to figure they're scrapping it and starting over -- not knowing anything about the situation I'd generally assume that was the right move.

Re: Save Google Wave

#54

Post by roc »

derefr wrote: post #35
jbooth wrote: post #33

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's terrible reason. If it was a startup, they'd either sink or swim. Maybe better marketing would have helped, maybe the client sucks, maybe the concept sucks. But there's no reason for Google to throw good money after bad, it's not like there's nothing else they could be working on (including the next, better Wave from the etherpad guys).

> But there's no reason for Google to throw good money after bad That's the thing—they haven't thrown any money at the problem at all. The whole problem is that it was a half-hearted effort from the start; Google didn't put Wave anywhere visible, they didn't integrate it with Gmail or Google Talk, or do anything else to get traction. They just sort of put it out there and hoped people would subscribe. That's how prod…

> "Imagine if the concept of "electronic mail" was invented today. "

I don't think it'd be all that different from launching the concept of microblogging or social networks. Startups did fine with that.

What Google should have done, having a technology on their hands and not a product, was make their other products either built on Wave or compatible with Wave (Docs, Chat, Mail - using Wave. Calendar, Pages integrated via robots, etc).

Then, you'd have a huge built-in user base that can ignore the complexity until they grok it and if they want it. And all their data will be waiting for them.

In the meantime, Google could develop and throw robots into their products as features. Being able to directly send messages to a robot for publishing on your blog platform of choice, or directly drag attachments to a robot that populates Dropbox/Flickr/whatever? Being able to add a plugin to schedule a party into an email chain that automatically updates Google Calendar? Having a service that detects tracking numbers and provides mouse-over summaries?

Even for users who would never want a Wave-like client, those features would make Google's existing products better and stickier. And none of it would involve burying every would-be user in complexity on day 1.

Re: Save Google Wave

#55

Post by roc »

SoftwareMaven wrote: post #49
invisible wrote: post #30

The most obvious feature Google should have invested 5,000 man hours in: making Wave seamless in GMail as a standard. If you are talking to another GMail user, Wave should be automatically turned on for that message. I do not understand why this wasn't deathly obvious to them from the day that they announced Wave at Google IO 2009.

It could be that there were turf wars involved in this. It is not inconceivable for the Gmail product manager to not want Wave integrated. People switching to Wave could mean the end of his clout in company. I don't know enough about internal Google to really say whether this is probable or not, but I've worked for companies where that would have been the case.

I'd be willing to accept that if we were talking about Microsoft. I thought Google was still better than that?

Re: Save Google Wave

#56

Post by smallegan »

Has Google ever sold off a product or service? They certainly acquire but if I am not mistaken it is also common practice for large corporations to rid themselves or projects they are no longer interested in and sometimes this involves a monetary transaction in their favor.

Re: Save Google Wave

#57

Post by pasbesoin »

I definitely want to see Wave saved.

Further, I'll argue that since Google effectively took away our common, central access to the EtherPad service (even though the source code remains), they in some sense "owe" the community the effort of giving Wave more of a shot -- although I expect a common response will be that "business doesn't owe you anything that doesn't make money (in an legal fashion)".

My other comments (e.g. interface, lack of documentation and post-launch publicity) are here:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1578127

Re: Save Google Wave

#58

Post by keefe »

seldo wrote: post #6

The ridiculously confusing interface to the Wave loaded on this page, plus the fact that it takes 30 seconds to load and then runs like a dog, is the perfect explanation of why Wave is being shut down. It's almost like that's what they were trying to demonstrate.

didn't run at all for me, 404........

Re: Save Google Wave

#59

Post by jpablo »

hdeshev wrote: post #52

Funny. I wouldn't want to be in Novell's shoes now after having invested in building a product on top of Wave: http://www.novell.com/products/pulse/

Pulse is not in top of Wave and really is a separated product that doesn't depend on Wave at all. And in fact is what a lot of people are asking: Wave behind your firewall.

(Disclaimer: I'm a Novell employee but I don't speak for them).

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