Google Wave confuses a lot of folks. What is it? What problem is it trying to solve? I remember hearing similar questions about Twitter and wikis prior to that.

If you don't know what Google Wave is, you can start here: http://wave.google.com/help/wave/about.html

I think the technology is really important. Here's 5 reasons why:

1. We want to use collaboration tools without having to launch into the tool. The aggregation of e-mail, IM, discussion threads and apps is useful and inevitable. Why? Time, convenience, usability and power of the exchange.

2. The e-mail pattern is tired and unnecessary. We don't need a send/receive. We want the flexibility to opt-out of conversations that don't need us. Sometimes we need a history of change rather than being forced to make sense of a flat thread.

3. This is more than a messaging revolution. It's application mashup. And the applications can actually be assembled or removed as needed.

Some early samples if Wave and app integration:
Collaborative BPM with SAP Gravity:
Customer Service with Salesforce.com:
Project Collab with Thoughtworks Mingle: http://studios.thoughtworks.com/mingle-agile-project-management/mingle-and-google-wave
Credits: http://mashable.com/2009/09/05/google-wave-ideas/

4. I'm betting that we'll see integration with 3rd party collaboration and document management tools like SharePoint. This would allow people to work where they live and bridge the gap between grass roots technology adoption and corporate objectives (supporting governance and exploiting corporate knowledge).

5. Twitter is used for collaboration or communication around a topic. So are wikis. Blogs are as well. But Twitter is not a rich experience, wikis are impersonal and can be difficult to moderate and blogs don't have enough realtime collaborative power. The potential of participating in solving tough problems around topical areas is exciting.

extra stuff:

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