So it finally happened. I stumbled across someone on twitter who was looking to give out some wave invites he had and I actually managed to score one. Less then 24 hours after he said it was sent I received it (Someone else had told me they sent me one, and I’m still waiting to get it, 2 weeks later). I was stoked. Wave has been touted as the next form of online communication and I will admit, even in its somewhat limited sandbox right now, its pretty cool. The problem? Well, there are two.

First, I wouldn’t even consider this a beta product (we all know Gmail was in beta for 5 years before loosing the beta tag recently right?), its more like an alpha product. There are placeholder wave’s promising features to come, theres an expansive, though limited userbase and a system that at times cannot handle all that the world is trying to throw at it. That doesn’t mean it isn’t good, because it is, it just means its most definitely not ready for the prime time yet.

Second, is the limited userbase I just mentioned. Yes. There are a ton of people that received invites in the initial wave. Around 100,000 I believe. The problem is that I know 2 of them. One of them, I didn’t know until I saw his post on twitter offering an invite. Its not a bad thing, there *is* a way to make a public wave that ANYONE on wave can see and respond to, and its fun reading through the various topics. The problem is that I could see how this could be useful for chatting with a work group, a team, a spouse or a friend. I’d like to have more people on here that I could “wave” with on a consistent basis. People who would actually reply.

I do like how you can see responses as the person is typing. Its like watching an old form of java chat in action. I also like how you can post and share photos and files at the drop of an item and the ability to create extensions/plugins is pretty cool too. I think that as google works out the kinks in the wave system and gradually opens the door to more and more people, that wave will be, if not the next big thing, a definite competitor to the current email structure online.

Are you using wave? Connect with me: mcangeli@googlewave.com or let me know what you think of Wave by leaving a comment here. Oh, and I currently do NOT have any invites so please do not ask.

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