The Web on The Web Way

August 11, 2009

More great responses to some recent posts to recap, along with an interview I did a few weeks ago that seems to be pretty timely.

EWEEK brought the post to Google's attention August 10, looking for comment from Wave creators Lars Rasmussen and Jens Rasmussen, who built the platform in secret in their home country of Australia before unveiling it to a room of applause at Google I/O in May. However, Google declined to challenge Dash's points.

  • J Aaron Farr posted Wave's Web of Protocols, and Eric Smith wrote PubSubHubBub Hullabaloo, both offering helpful diagrams to help explain the architecture of Google Wave and PubSubHubBub, respectively. I found both to be useful starting points for understanding these technologies if you're more of a visual thinker.
  • I'd meant to include a link in my original Wave post to A Google Wave reality check, where Tom Krazit at CNET provided some interesting glimpses behind the scenes of the making of Wave. A key quote:

Google believes developer feedback is crucial to [Wave's] evolution as a product. "We wanted to get people thinking about how we're going to use it and what people are going to use it for," [Wave co-creator Lars Rasmussen] said.

1 Comment

"Why will the Google Wave succeed, in spite itself?" That's the title of an essay that I've just finished writing. I wrote �in spite itself� because Anil Dash� critique, based on which he predicted the failure of the Wave, is worth paying attention to, at least on 3 points:

a. �It�s too complex�
b. �There has to be value before everybody has upgraded�
c. �You have to be able to understand and explain it�

The essay grew out from my critique of his critique of the Wave then went to cover topics as diverse as "Flow and Chaos - two scenarios of the near future," "Attention elasticity and the Wave," "We are the message," Doug Engelbart' proto-hypertext Augment system, Stowe Boyd's vision of the �Web of Flow,� and Mitch Kapor on Second Life and the opportunity to participate in the creation of a new world.

You can download it from here:
http://www.twine.com/item/12xggpnf0-38v/why-will-google-wave-succeed-in-spite-itself?context=/user/technoshaman/items#

Leave a comment