Anthony Doesburg: Google makes messaging even more instant

If you're not a fan of instant messaging (IM), you're going to hate a new PC-based communication tool under development by Google.

Unless, of course, your complaint about IM is that it's not instant enough. If you're that hyperactive, and would like to see correspondents' messages appear on your screen character by character, then you'll probably think Google Wave is just the thing.

What's more, if you like to hold virtual conversations with countless people at a time, Wave will give you the platform to do it. And if plain text is simply too boring for you, Wave will let you pepper your communications with all manner of other meaningful material - photos, video, maps, you name it.

If it's already sounding like the most diabolical distraction invented, that's obviously not the way Google pitches it. When it introduced Wave to the world at a software developer conference in May, it was described as much as a collaboration tool as another means of gossiping while pretending to be working.

But who says gossip isn't a form of collaboration - and vice versa? I saw a demonstration of Wave in Google's Sydney office last month by a Kiwi developer who is part of the 50-strong team working on the software. As I peered over this shoulder, he jumped in on an exchange between various people in the office started by someone wanting to buy a TV.

It was like a collective brain dump - some useful consumer tips were offered, someone posted a photo of an antique TV thought suitable for your parents - but it was hardly a great evolutionary leap from the internet chatroom.

Perhaps that's just my lack of imagination. No doubt those who already entertain themselves by IM-ing the hours away will be pinned even more firmly to their PCs by Wave. But depending on how you like to work, it could have serious uses.

Demos - YouTube has lots - make collaborating in this way look totally natural, but the Googlers in them have been messing around with Wave for the best part of a couple of years already.

Its originators are the same pair - Danish brothers Lars and Jens Rasmussen - who came up with Google Maps. Their mission this time is to create a tool that numerous people can be using at the same time, creating countless versions of a document or message that they can all see as it happens.

In computing terms, that's a formidable challenge of parallel processing, networking and database management, not to mention designing the software so people can easily figure out how to use all its clever features.

A key one is that Wave works within a web browser, so no special software is needed. Once logged on, it looks similar to a web email account.

On the left of the screen are links to an inbox and contacts, there's a middle panel showing saved Waves, and a third panel where you type or add other content to a live Wave.

Adding photos is as simple as dragging and dropping from wherever they're stored on your computer into the Wave window. And any of the people in the Wave can edit any of the text, their name appearing where they're typing. If you want to go back to the pre-edited Wave, a replay button lets you do so. All the while, the Wave, in its multiple versions, is stored somewhere in Google's mysterious - it won't say where they are - array of data centres.

Live is the operative word. Participants in a Wave - and there can potentially be thousands - can see just how bad each other's typing is as text appears by the key-stroke.

But the Kiwi mentioned earlier is working on a spell-checker that fixes typos as they're made. This is no mere dictionary, but can tell from context that when you type "been soup", you really mean "bean".

Those for whom email is enough of a curse are unlikely to become Wavers. But if there are people who hate the nagging feeling of an inbox waiting for their attention, there are others - including my Google PR minder - who get irritated when their emails aren't instantly answered.

Wave is perfect for her - and how fortunate that she works where she does and is able to use it before it is let loose on the wider the world. Others like her needn't be jealous. Google is inviting people to register online to be early users. They can expect Wave to hit in the first half of next year.

WHAT'S A WAVE?

* It's "equal parts conversation and document", says Google.

* It's like an ongoing email conversation, but one that's updated live, as participants add new material and edit the Wave.

* As well as text, participants can add photos, video, maps, etc.

* A playback feature lets anyone rewind the Wave to see who said what and when.

Anthony Doesburg travelled to Sydney courtesy of Google.