4 HN users recommended this demo4 months2009–2025score 4
Years with an HN recommendation, 2007–2026
HN returns to it as the original Wave pitch, both for its wow factor and as a case study in a hyped product that was later shut down.
The Google I/O 2009 keynote introducing Google Wave, a real-time collaborative communication and document platform. It includes a long live demo and the developer preview announcement.
“their demo exhibits a wow factor that is undeniable” (HN, 2009)
That's probably the most blatant example of FUD in internet history. Jumping to conclusions while remaining blissfully ignorant to the actual implementation. Until we get access to the sandbox, you should draw your own conclusions by watching the keynote: [this video]
I'm surprised nobody has compared this to google's wave yet. If you haven't, you should go check out the demo -- I'm not for sure yet how much feature overlap there is, but their demo exhibits a wow factor that is undeniable. It's long, but skip around and you're sure to hit on at least some of the important bits: [this video]
For me it was Google Wave. The presentation[1] got me very excited and I couldn't wait to start using it. I signed up for the beta and told everyone I work with to do so as well. It quickly became an invaluable tool for me, I couldn't imagine what I'd do without it. And then, a year after it was introduced, only 3 months after it was released to the general public, Google announced Wave was dead. [1] [this video]
Presentation excited commenter about Wave before it was killed
Here's one of my favorites, of Lars doing the Wave dance on stage to ad-lib over connectivity hiccups. For some reason it evoked a lot more empathy from me... [this video]
Empathetic example of ad-libbing over demo hiccups
Hello, I have a question. Does anybody know about javascript rich text / HTML editor, that could easily show small popup under carret (or certain word) while the user is typing? I mean something like the spell-checker in this google wave demonstration - see at 0:44:40 [this video] Or lets say, you want to implement something like this [link] but in web browser. How would you go about it?
Wave was built on XMPP wasn't it? If I understand correctly XMPP is fully extensible which means Google can add whatever data they want and still be inter-operable with all the common parts and then define the new parts. Video seems like it could be out of band using WebRTC and initiated by new XMPP data. Watching the Wave introduction presentation from Google I/O 2009 it's hard to buy that a new protocol was needed. [this video]
Intro presentation suggests no new protocol was needed
git clone [link] git clone [link] git clone [link] Does it even build? Wave is one of those things that everyone raves about but has never used. [link] [this video]
I've made a timeline with the video of the original world-shattering announcement and demo of Wave at Google IO, and some of the Google Wave related submissions to HN. How pretentious and audacious it seems in retrospect! It’s hard to appreciate all the snarky jokes in the Pissed Off Wave Tutorial, if you don’t remember how, um, over-confident they were when they announced Wave. Google Wave Developer Preview at Google I/O 2009 (May 28, 2009) [this video] Google Wave Drips With Ambition. A New Communication Platform For A New Web. (May 28, 2009) [link] [link] Google Wave: What Might Email Look Like If It Were Invented Today (May 29, 2009) [link] [link] What problems does Google Wave solve? (Oct 15, 2009) [link] [link] Google Kills Wave (Aug 4, 2010) [link] [link] What makes Slack so successful whereas Google Wave wasn't? (Oct 10, 2015) [link] What in the Hell Was Google Wave Trying to Be Anyway? – Gizmodo UK (May 27, 2019) [link] On a lighter note, the Game Helpin’ Squad (who made the Wave tutorial) also has several spot-on parodies of various video game genres! “Time Travel Understander” is a parody of Braid: [link] “Severe Running” parodies those Flash running games: [link] And “World Quester 2” is the ultimate D&D RPG parody: [link] "Pretend Gas Station" is a SimCity parody: [link] “Solitare Party” parodies all those card games: [link]
Original announcement seen as pretentious in retrospect
I was in the audience when they previewed it for the first time at I/O. The Internet at that conference was awfully intermittent (ironic considering this was Google), and I have fond memories of Lars doing the Wave dance on stage to ad-lib over the connectivity hiccups: [this video]
Lars doing the Wave dance over connectivity hiccups
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