Google Wave Becomes a Puddle
The announcement of the end of Google Wave as a standalone product proves that even ventures backed by an Internet giant can flounder.
Whether a component will evolve to become another product has yet to be seen, but the business model behind Google Wave as a new form of communication will perhaps remain within the Google vaults, if not at the forefronts of the minds of the 6000 developers (a version control nightmare) or the 100,000 users who sought to use the application for "real time communication and collaboration."
The variables that informed this decision may have been a change in strategy, a reorganization of resources to concentrate on other projects, the lack of any real uptake in the application, and ongoing absence of any business model. Or, there's always the fact that real-time collaboration can take place in a variety of tried and tested methods already in place, from messaging to audio and video conferencing, to being in the same physical space (in the same, room believe it or not).
It may also have been a decision by Google trying to redirect resources to do battle with Facebook on the social media stage. Interestingly though, if the case in which Google was found guilty of age discrimination reflects the true nature of the Google environment, then it may be that a it's simply a lack of experience mixed with arrogance and naïveté.
On a side note, the view of the web where small and large companies can continue to innovate on a somewhat level playing field will be tested by the announcement that Google is now considering entering a deal with Verizon to introduce web payment tiers. This has already resulted in outrage and anger among many and, if true, could be the final arrow in Google's street credibility honeymoon, and result in active hostility towards their ventures, similar to the enmity held against Microsoft .
So I'll sign off from this blog entry I'm writing using Blogger, and go and sing some Karaoke songs on YouTube. (I wonder which web 2.0 meritocratic company owns these?) I'll have to remember to back up my files on the free resource that allows me to share them with other users. I think it's called something "docs". All free, but is this borrowed time ?
Unlike the soon to be ex-governor of California, they'll be back.
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