Google has finally laid to rest the blunder it created some 15 months ago. The search giant's real-time collaboration platform Wave is no more. Google has cited "the failure to garner user interest" as the main cause of its demise. RIP, Wave, but I don't think you will be missed much. The service was launched last year with much hype, but it failed to turn that hype into real performance.
The platform's main purpose was to "revolutionize" the way people communicate electronically. But the unholy clone mix of Twitter, e-mail and Facebook was way too complicated for its own good. The platform was built using the blood and sweat of 6,000 developers, and additional 100,000 users were used as sacrificial lambs for trying out its beta form. The company, however, has stated that Wave's ashes (read remnant technology) will be used in other Google projects.
Google's success is so ginormous, that it certainly does not need my validation. However, the company also has an ever-growing list of the blunders and flops. Wave now has been placed along with eminently forgettable Google offerings such as Google Video Player, Google Answers and Google Coupons. Although, seems like the behemoth cannot care any less about its small failures. The company is now planning to launch Google Me, a potential competitor to Facebook. Going by the initial specs leaked, the service does not seem much different from Google's existing social apps Orkut and Buzz. Buzz has generally been rated so poorly, that it might be next in line to go Wave's way. Watch this space for the obituary, and my condolence if Wave's demise has affected any of you in a negative way.
Source: ZDNet