Communications of the ACM
Google Invites sers to Join Wave
The Google Wave messenger system supports real-time typing, meaning that users can watch friends' on-screen messages appear letter by letter.
Google developers Lars and Jens Rasmussen have released a limited preview of an open source messenger called Wave. Users must be invited to test the application, but can then send five more invitations to friends. Wave conversations can be edited like Wikipedia Web pages, with a log tracking who has made what alterations and when.
Google Wave also allows real-time typing, meaning that users can watch friends' on-screen messages appear letter by letter. One can answer a question before it is finished, says Lars Rasmussen. The Google team is designing an option to turn this feature off for users who do not want it. Other options include easy image-sharing, game applications, and the ability to read conversations even after signing off.
All Google developers now use Wave to create design documents. Internet Explorer does not support Wave on its own, but users can download the add-on Chrome Frame to run the program, which is written in HTML 5 code. One million people have asked to be invited to use the program, and Wave will be open to everyone at the beginning of 2010. "I have been accused of being pathologically optimistic about it, but I can't see why people wouldn't want it," says Rasmussen.
From BBC News
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