Google have jad a conference recently, called I/O. One of the products they showcased seeks to answer the question “What Might Email Look Like If It Were Invented Today?”. Not a question I’ve asked myself very often, but the guys behind Google Maps have been thinking about this for a while, and come up with Google Wave.
Not only does the timing of the announcement flick the V’s at Microsoft’s new search product “Bing“, and the Wolfram Alpha buzzwagon, but it seems to totally confound the idea of a line between a browser and an app, and takes on some of the developments by the big social networks in this space too.
Most of the features are pretty interesting, allowing collaboration and the the exchange of data/content/opinion in a very seamless way, with a lovely workaround of the perennial version control issue to boot. (Relieved about that? Good, me too.)
Tim O’Reilly (the man that coined the phrase Web 2.0) writes about it in a way I can just about understand, and on his blog there are appropriate links to find out more, including an 80 minute presention at the conference.
UPDATE: Wave already has it’s knockers…
