Gmail was Evolutionary, Google Wave is Revolutionary
I have always been fan of web-base e-mail, but limited storage was usually a constraint. Then came Gmail, offering 500 X more storage compared to Hotmail at that time. It also brought some innovations, such as grouping messages in one single conversation and other enhancements enabled by AJAX.
I remember very well how desperate I wanted to get my hands on one of the limited invitation-only accounts they offered. I am feeling the same way now for Wave.
Wave is a web application that combines e-mail, IM, collaboration tools and much more.
According to Google:
A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.
A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.
As described on this article from Computerworld:
Wave represents Google's answer to the emergence of streaming, or real-time, internet applications, as evidenced primarily by the rise of social networks.
It might seem ordinary at first, but once you learn more about it, you realize it is really game-changing. View the video below (a very long one, so you may want to skip some parts) or access the official page to learn more about Wave. According to Google, it will not be available until the end of this year.
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v_UyVmITiYQ&hl=en&fs=1]