So, Google Wave is 1 year old. I failed to post my first impressions when I first got to play with it but much of it seems to still apply.
I have to say I like it a lot but I’m worried that it’s made for people just like me. This concern was reinforced when I introduced it to my girlfriend. I immediately gabbling about collaborative, real-time spaces or something and she soon switched off.
If something is not immediately obvious, people try comparing it to something they already know. E-mail is like, er, mail. On that basis, I’d describe it as an instant, disposable, real-time forum.
Google’s biggest successes have always been in simplifying the UI by keeping the clever stuff behind the scenes. They rejected Yahoo’s hierarchy and AltaVista’s complex search forms for a minimalistic, freeform search box. With maps, Google dumped the clunky 8-directional arrows in favour of actual dragging.
There’s a conflict when the simplest solution doesn’t have an clear physical analog. Whereas organising by folders are easy to grasp, tagging is more of a hurdle – even though it’s a straightforward generalisation. This requires a cognitive effort and too many of these can cause a non-geeky user to break off before they have adopted the new model.
I’m keen to use Wave more but, until Google frames Wave in more familiar ways, I’m not convinced it’s going to gain traction to the same degree as e-mail, Facebook or Twitter.