I reported earlier this month of Google shutting down Google Wave after all the hype it created with its launch and then dying down. Appears as if the idea of going from invite only to public contributed more to its death than a rapid growth. However the services isn’t dead as yet as Google has extended its availability till the end of 2010.
The purpose? Google wants to have users import all the data they have shared on Wave by giving them tools to do so. These will be made available in the next month or two, definitely before December to give you enough time to export your Waved stuff. It saddens me to see this great tool die down, it was definitely ahead of its time and a great initiative and I think poor marketing was primarily responsible for it dying so abruptly. I personally think if Google would have had made a little extra effort to promote this, Wave would have lived up to the expectations that Google had: an evolution of communicating and collaborating online.
On the contrary, Google wouldn’t just wipe this off the Web. The sort of features it had I consider those being implemented elsewhere on the countless many services it has. Most probably on the Google.Me, the social network that Google has in plans. It will be interesting to see Wave being added as a feature on Gmail as well.
Did you use Google Wave? How did you find it? Let us know your answers in the comments.
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[...] I think Wave is going to return soon and that Google has taken the right step with it, something it should have done at the start of the project. The idea to roll out Wave as a communication tool for all was just not smart enough, given people are looking faster and more simpler ways to communicate not things as complex as Google Wave [initially]. Google Wave should have been released as an enterprise communication application or tool with all powers given to developers to twist and turn the code as per their need. Once that had been done, Wave would have been a simpler idea to grasp for many. That’s just my opinion but I am sure this one’s going to make a strong comeback till then it will lurk around as a zombie. [...]