Not a long time back, Google Wave was introduced to the developer community that was full of awe at the new technological wonder Google had just invented. Or had just reinvented something considering the fact that it had weaved together a couple of existing technologies like chat, email, collaboration, etc. and launched it as a futuristic communication tool. If you are new to Google Wave then you may read another article titled Google Wave for a quick jumpstart.Back then, it had created lot of waves and the community was ecstatic about numerous possibilities it could be put in use, personal or professional. While the developer community did receive invitations to join Wave, public was kept in lurch for an unjustifiably long time. Just the way, Gmail account had become a privilege when Google started eating into Hotmail & Yahoo's webmail share, similarly, Google Wave accounts were available by invitation only.
Unfortunately, the wait was long and use cases very limited. While some users could make sense out of Wave, some struggled to figure out a really valid use case before they could start waving. Probably, Wave's over enthusiasm wasn't easily digested my many and it found only a few takers. It didn't take people too long to figure out the limited scope Wave had to offer though it was innovative & very futuristic in approach.
The long wait for invitations, limited use case scenarios, and lack of development progress is probably prompting Google to call it off and has hence decided to discontinue any further work beyond this year-end. While its source code and engine is & will continue to be openly available to the developer community, officially, the platform is counting its last few days already.
If you loved Wave and have some use cases to share, do suggest some in the comments section.
