From tomorrow, Google will be opening the doors of Wave; Google’s new communication & collaboration platform, to more than 100,000 lucky testers.

The preview invites will be sent to the following:

• Developers who have been active in the developer preview we started back in June
• The first users who signed up and offered to give feedback on wave.google.com
• Select customers of Google Apps

To springboard the testing, Google is asking each of the invitees to nominate people to also receive early invites, with the promise that they will (soon) open the doors to more users, once the platform is stable. Google is quick to point out that this constitutes a ‘Preview’ of Wave, and that the platform is not yet ready for production use.

From previous experience, early Google product previews tend to be relatively stable, and if the live demo of Wave back in May was anything to go by, then we’re in for a real treat. We could indeed be looking at the shape of things to come.

For more information on the upcoming Wave preview, please check out the Original Google-Blog post.

Bootnote: If anyone can get me an invite to Wave, please drop me a message using the Contact page.

To me, Google Wave is essentially a combination of Email, Forum, SVN, Sharepoint, and Instant Messenger. The approach they’ve taken to the modern internet communication is revolutionary. I can see a whole new terminology evolving around this new service, with people saying ‘Wave me’ instead of ‘Email me’ (Firefly fans rejoice).

The things I would love to see is:

• Mobile device integration – (This is potentially a platform that could revolutionize mobile communication – Maybe even a viable SMS / Mobile email replacement)
• Voice / Video support
• Flexible privacy / Identity Management controls – (ability to hide your address, not let people find you through other contacts, etc.)

While the transition away from email may be only a pipe-dream, a viable platform has really never existed, until now.

The main issues with this platform (as demoed) will be ones of Privacy and Security. Misrepresentation, defamation, and creative copyright issues may become an issue as well, especially with the ability to edit other peoples posts. I expect these issues will be addressed by Google in the future, and we’ve got to remember that what was demoed was an early Alpha.

So, could we be looking at the future of communication? Discuss

Bootnote

The Google Dev’s appear to be Firefly fans. Did anyone else notice Firefly terminology such as “Wave me” and “Shiny”?

Links

Google Wave preview site

Google Wave – A Developer’s Eye View – Courtesy of The Register