This is definitely not a good start into my day (and soon to be days off) – Google forecloses Google Wave:
But despite these wins, and numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked. We don’t plan to continue developing Wave as a standalone product, but we will maintain the site at least through the end of the year and extend the technology for use in other Google projects. The central parts of the code, as well as the protocols that have driven many of Wave’s innovations, like drag-and-drop and character-by-character live typing, are already available as open source, so customers and partners can continue the innovation we began. In addition, we will work on tools so that users can easily “liberate” their content from Wave.
As I have commented on buzz I think that this is a mistake, partly because it alienates the people that have pushed, used and built upon Wave for a long time. On the other hand there are probably some good reasons for this move – even when I doubt that the limited number of users is a real and substantial one. My best bet on reasons is that they have a pushy need for the ex-Wave developer brainpower in other projects and products. Takers? I might put up a Google T-Shirt as prize (Large, black, “I am feeling lucky” print on the back) …
I knew you’d be complaining …
My bet is: Google realized that it will take a century to get money via Wave due to its closed group model. In favor of Buzz (open model)
full ack. I think the guys at Google were just ahead of their time. Maybe Google Wave or at least the system will come back in a few years in a different style, which comes closer to the users needs.
@Xavier hmm, I hope I am not complaining too much about the end of a free service 😉
Indeed what I do feel bad about is the missed opportunity, ie. to really advance the field of (intra-organizational IT-supported) collaboration
@Thorsten ok, but it was thought to be an experiment and “protocol testbed” anyway – I never saw an ad on Wave and have a hard time imagining them too. What’s probably putting me over the edge is this take by them “See you get (some of) the source code, that’s OK, huh?” We all know that to really advance this baby one needs to have full-time paid software engineers and some guys to attend the standardization meetups – without a vibrant community and corporate sponsors the Wave protocol will not advance much.
That said – and knowing that an experiment can both end and miss – I feel that they are cutting short a lot of people who have invested time, love and money into Wave. And this is hardly a good move to attract external developers in the future, or ambitious pilot users for crying out loud.
@Johannes I agree – while the servers run by Google for Wave will come to a halt, some of the functionalities will live on elsewhere in their portfolio. Maybe even very soon. Still I don’t get why they haven’t kept Wave as a “testbed and field for experimentation”. Ain’t the same as an underused services that business men decide to stop – I guess there are a lot of yet-underused-platforms in use at Microsoft, IBM et al. labs’ Can’t be the money side? Probably some more interesting projects for the Rasmussen brothers and team?
@Martin : actually I realize that I choose a wrong word. Shouldn’t have written ‘complaining’ but ‘be disapointed’ …
@Xavier don’t worry – disappointment is leading (sometimes) to complain a lot, Me = more disappointed and frustrated about the cut.