Unfortunately, it was not good enough at any one of these tasks to win over enough users.
GMail is a way better email client.
Text messaging, Twitter, and instant messaging are still far better options for instant communication.
Wave is slow and awkward for instant messaging between two people.
Furthermore, I really feel like Wave missed the mark with the user interface.
The scrollbars are over-engineered and it’s frustrating to work with the Edit/Done buttons.
The nested replies and custom privacy functions were neat, but they often became confusing and glitchy.
Finally, deleting a wave from the inbox didn’t actually delete it.
If another user posted in that wave, it would return.
Can Wave make a comeback and become a technology that we can’t live without?
There’s just too much overlap.
There are plenty of applications where Google could merge some Wave features into their existing products.
One of the mistakes Google made with Wave was not integrating it into GMail.
Just last week Google integrated their new Buzz product into GMail.
The result is pretty mixed, as some users are not happy with a social connection invading their inbox.
It’s funny how quickly things can change in this technology landscape.
Clearly, I was blinded by the hype just like everyone else.
I’m still really excited to see what happens in the future for Wave.
