After years of following web office apps like Google Apps, I finally decided to move willkelly.com, my professional site. to Google Apps for Business last September. A combination of drivers including my long simmering dissatisfaction with my ISP’s email (plus a long overdue need for IMAP) drove my need to make the change. Here is a status report…
I previously posted about my opinions on Google Wave’s early splash down. While there are some real solid players in the online collaboration space – there are also way too many BaseCamp and SharePoint “killers” or just outright knockoffs.
I read the news that Google was discontinuing Google Wave at the end of 2010 with a bit of disappointment. As a collaboration platform, Google Wave was way ahead of its time in a market full of Microsoft SharePoint, “SharePoint killers”, and some tools like Central Desktop with their own technological and usability merits.
My early experience using Google Wave and writing about it for WebWorkerDaily made me a proponent of the product. Despite its rough edges, there were a lot of fresh ideas like playback in the product that distinguished it from other collaboration tools in the market. I’ve seen my share of lackluster SharePoint implementations; home brewed collaboration tools; and PR briefings about the next “SharePoint killer that will change the collaboration paradigm” and when I saw Google Wave for the first time
Google on Friday announced that its had launched the Google Wave Extensions Gallery; you can now click on “Extensions” in Wave’s navigation pane to access it. It’s been added to provide users with an easier way to discover useful extensions and gadgets that have been vetted through a quality assurance and approval process.
While snow was walloping my local area, Google Buzz became available in my Gmail account so being the good early adopter I am – I had to check it out. Counting myself as one of the people “who gets” Google Wave, I didn’t get a lot of the fuss and noise that is erupting over Google Buzz but then again I am not seeing it as a consumer/personal play but as a complementary tool to Google Apps, Google Voice, and Google Wave.
I recently wrapped up my first project with a client where we used Google Wave for document collaboration and wrote about the lessons I learned along the way. In this post I am going to look forward to some of the tasks that I see Wave being used for.
I recently reviewed Waveboard 2.0 for the iPhone, but I would be remiss in not mentioning that there is also a desktop version of the app: Waveboard Mac, available in both free and Pro ($13) flavors. Google Wave works pretty well in my browser, so I was curious to check it out to see if Waveboard adds any value above and beyond just using the web site.
I am on record as wishing that Google Wave would become part of the Google Mobile App, but until that happens there is an alternative. WaveBoard 2.0 recently went live on the App Store (iTunes link, $0.99, or a free upgrade from the previous version) and offers iPhone/iPod touch users mobile access to the service.
After writing “6 Tips for Using Google Wave on Your First Project,” I’ve been learning more about Google Wave as my client and I use it for document collaboration and communication. Since I wrote the initial post, we’ve gotten a better handle on the features that are helping manage our Waves and related communications.
Web applications play a major part in my current professional work and there are some rather than others that join my list of favorites. Starting to write for WebWorkerDaily this year really gave me exposure to a lot of new applications and web services. Here are some of my favorite web services for 2009: read more
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