Waved Out

Burlington, Vermont
NoLL

I just finished watching a stunning demo of Google's new Wave product. Haven't heard of it? Trust me, you will. What is it? A way to merge email, instant messaging, blogging, and collaborative document production in to the same tool. It also provides a profoundly new and different way to write computer applications that will be appealing to developers.

The practical implication is that it will make people like me (and probably you) even more obsolete and unable to play with the under 25 age group. I do almost all my writing and reading off-line, then I go on-line for short bursts of time. The new tools assume that everyone is wired always. I also like to think about what I write, perhaps revising it several times before sharing it with others. Blogging is instant enough for me. New tools, like Google Wave, depend on everyone sharing their thoughts instantly.

Wave even allows multiple users to edit the same sentence at the same time -- something that I (and probably you) would find infuriating.

Young people who haven't developed such habits, can embrace the new wired means of communication much easier than older people can. They will find new ways to do things, to communicate and to cooperate. Their ways may not be better, or not even as good as our old ways, but they'll do it anyhow. That is the way of the world.

I foresee a lot of frustration and anger directed at older folks like me who may be in a position of authority but who don't voice our views in real time. I've been frustrated myself by authoritative people who didn't give their comments in a timely way. With new tools like Wave, timely will be redefined to be even speedier than before. Sigh.

Libby and I are fascinated by Google. We keep a fair fraction of our savings invested in Google and we eagerly follow the news about Google all the time.