The Rise of Google Wave

By Aleshia Thompson

National Diploma, ICT Practitioners

Google Wave is all about online communication.  This new software was created by Google and was launched at the end of September 2009. So what, you say, it is the same as MSN, facebook, Twitter and other social networking sites. 

The only difference is that when the user is typing on their computer the receiver at the other end can see it word for word - immediately - as they type in real time.  Plus it can be embedded on blogs or websites and there is Wiki functionality (described on Your Lewisham College here) which can help people with research.  Most of all though - and what makes it different really - is that it is about collaboration as much as it is about communication.  This will have a great influence on students, families and for people all over the world and it also comes with playback facilities.  That means that if the user wants to recall any conversation they can do so by clicking on the replay button.

Google Wave works just like a video web cam.   The users can login from anywhere in world and communicate with each other by using Google Wave in real time, like a web cam.  The difference is that that will be able to share files, edit them simultaneously, ask others to review.  Email too will be different.  You will get a message in your in box but it will be called a wave.  The entire history of responses, whether type-written, on video or any format you can think of, will be stored in the wave.  That way no one will lose thread of the wave as people contribute as it will appear as a single thread which can be tracked really easily.  As the waves are shared people can be added or taken off it as and when as it develops.

I believe that this is the shape of the future because Google Wave can be used for almost everything and since its launch there have been thousands of users already signing up and using this software for communicating with each other.   Get used to seeing the logo on the left - it will be all over the place soon.

The internet is used for many different things nowadays such as shopping, communicating, selling and much more. It will save time, cut costs and it is easy to use.  Global warming is changing people views on how they travel, spend and buy goods – and it looks like Google Wave may even be good for the environment too. So, things are looking good?

The internet helps people to travel less because they can communicate with each other using Google Wave and web cam.  If this software becomes bigger than and as popular as the other social networking sites such as hotmail, yahoo, MSN and all the rest, then people will not need to communicate with each other in person in real time, they can do it from their computer.

This is the future - machines taking over human life. Soon there will be robots securing our houses, taking over our jobs and even cooking and cleaning for us. If you think about it we already have robot cars, machines and computers in our every day life. The only difference is that they are not in human skeletal form, but I think that they are not far from that..

THEY ARE COMING!!!!!