Google Wave's potential

Is Google's ambitious new communication tool an innovation people need?

Google Wave is what e-mail would “look like if it were invented today,” said Mark Hachman in PC Magazine. Google Wave is an open-source mash-up of Gmail and instant messaging that Google hopes will revolutionize online communication. And, judging by the first look provided Thursday at the Google I/O conference, that might be an understatement.

The developers at the conference say Google Wave took Google’s best online apps—not just e-mail and messaging—and “rolled them into one new collaboration and communication tool,” said Lisa Hoover in Computer World. But Google Wave won’t be “released into the wild” for a few months, which gives the company some time to convince consumers they need Wave in place of their faithful e-mail and messaging services.

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