When Google Wave was launched last year, it was a lot of different things. Part social-network, part collaborative-productivity tool and part life-aggregator, the product was ambitious and tried to change how people worked together. However, this week the company has pulled the plug, citing a lack of consumer interest as the reason.
While Google didn't reveal how many people actually used Wave on a regular basis, Senior VP Urs Hölzle posted on the official blog that despite "numerous loyal fans, Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked".
Even though the actual product will be taken offline at the end of the year, Hölzle did promise that the underlying technologies would show up in other products. Google has never been a company to dwell on its failures, and a mentality of trial-and-error is a big part of the reason for its success. Wave was a very clever piece of technology, so we won't be surprised to see elements of it pop up elsewhere. In fact, the ability to drag-and-drop documents from a browser to the desktop - another key development from Wave - was announced for Gmail just this week.
Wave was derided by many for being far too complicated and largely superfluous for the vast majority. However, we think Google may just be a little ahead of its time. Like so many technologies, the utility of something like this isn't apparent until you realise you can't live without it.
Are you sad to see the passing of Wave? Do you think it was killed off before its time, or that it was just a waste? Let us know your thoughts in the HEXUS.community.
