Google Open Sources Wave Protocol Implementation

eldavojohn writes "Certainly one of the most important steps in adopting a protocol is a working open source example of it. Well, google has open sourced an implementation of the wave protocol for those of you curious about Google's new collaboration and conversation platform. It's been reviewed, skewered and called 'Anti-Web' but now's your chance to see a Java implementation of it. The article lists it as still rapidly evolving so it might not be prudent to buy into it yet. Any thumbs up or thumbs down from actual users of the new protocol?"

Oh, well, if there's a Java implementation

[Anonymous Coward]

It clearly can't be anti-web.

Obligatory...

[bennomatic]

Too confusing. Requires a browser. Won't run on my iPod. Lame.

miscommuncation?

[Anonymous Coward]

waits for "lips move, but I can't hear what your saying" jokes

Re:Yay for open sourcing

[megamerican]

What is The Wave's motto?

Strength through discipline, strength through community, strength through action!

Google chose a very fitting name. [thewave.tk]

Re:OK, now what does it do?

[Anonymous Coward]

If Google plays it right it will be Google's next BIG thing. Check out their vid [youtube.com] - yes, it's about an hour but very interesting throughout, one of the coolest things happens near the end.

It has the potential to revolutionize how people communicate through the internet as it combines features or email, messaging, blogging, social networking and webpages all into a single open source product using open standard protocols. Which basically means is that what this tool is capable of is only limited by the minds of those writing code (i.e. potentially anyone) on it.

Re:OK, now what does it do?

[Tekfactory]

Whatever you do, don't read this

http://sites.google.com/a/waveprotocol.org/wave-protocol/draft-protocol-spec [google.com]

I tried reading it and its like the South Park episode with the Marklar, only replace Marklar with Wave as the only Noun/Verb in the language.

Its an adressible service like email or newsgroups, users have usernames @ domains and can subscribe to or send content to lists/groups.

It has a collaborative aspect, parts RSS feed/Twitter/Wiki and I think it will be easier to understand when there is more content availble. I do wonder how the providers are supposed to keep these documents like newsgroup retention, with conversations dissappearing after a retentionwindow ends, or like hosting wikis. I don't see where I would download any waves that I was participating in or monitoring, but I'd have to see an implemented client I guess.

Re:Obligatory...

[Anonymous Coward]

More like: Requires graphical interface. Won't run on my hand-rolled 64-bit 2.6.31-rc4-git2 kernel. Lame.

Re:Money?

[99BottlesOfBeerInMyF]

Anyone know how on earth Google expects to make money off of this thing? It looks amazing, but how do you make money off of this if it's open sourced, free, and took a ton of development time to build (and presumably support in the future)?

Obviously they plan to make money the same way they do with GMail. They'll offer a free in the cloud service to normal users and either provide ads alongside the client and/or robotically harvest the conversations to better target online ads to their users. They might even sell corporate Wave hosting services to corporations or sell servers with it pre-installed and ready to go to corporations.

Re:I hope this doesn't catch on.

[myxiplx]

By yet again re-enforcing their brand image as being synonymous with the web.

Re:Money?

[Krneki]

Google is winning because they are as smart on technical stuff as they are on getting money from advertising without pissing of users.

Make no mistake, whoever is in charge of ad marketing in Google is a pure genius.

Re:OK, now what does it do?

[aesiamun]

Malkovich, Malkovich Malkovich Malkovich....MALKOVICH!!!

Re:Money?

[js_sebastian]

Perhaps they make money by commoditizing some of the products of their potential competitors in the online advertisement arena. Social networking sites, blogs, messaging, email, etc, can all be reimplemented in a cool, interoperable way on top of wave. If this takes off, it will take a bite out of closed playgrounds such as facebook et al.

Re:My feelings on Wave

[crazybilly]

Isn't that part of the reason it's open source? So that you (or somebody you pay) can build a native client for it?

I tend to agree--I don't particularly care to have my email/IM/collaboration software all tied up into my browser (particularly in FF or IE). I want something that does one thing and does it well. But if the protocol is open, as far as I can tell (note: IANAD(eveloper)) there's nothing stopping anybody from building a nice lean, writing-focused Wave client.

Re:I hope this doesn't catch on.

[iluvcapra]

how is Google going to make money off of it???

Keep an eye on the various "Robots" and "Extensions" they'll be offering as services.

Also, destroying the competitive advantage of Exchange and Lotus Notes will have certain long-term strategic benefits.

Re:It's too early, but...

[SebaSOFT]

I've recently attended to a Soft skills workshop on Innovation. So I would say that there are experts that study innovation over the years. When I say detect I mean not just happen to be in front of an innovative idea, but to actually detect it as a game-changing, so yeas, they are rarely to be adopted.

Re:Single Google Wave Users = Meh

[andre_pl]

What question?