Google Wave: Loosely coupling IM to everything

Skype soared when it wrapped IM around Internet voice calls. The familiar around the difficult.

IM brings profiles, contact lists, presence, people search, and messages. Google Wave lets you build those into any software.

Skype gained power by creating an IM namespace (the list of people who use Skype) that tightly coupled IM with more things to do (voice, video, file transfer, gameplay). Wave creates the same value but with loose coupling. Third parties have added voice conferencing, video conferencing, games. Third parties will be able to tie in their own namespaces (people@mycompany.com) and their own apps.

I fully expect to see Wave built into web sites, mobile apps, desktop clients, smart devices. Anything where you expect people (or things) to talk with people.

Loose coupling has its weaknesses. Incompatibility with extensions (we have to agree on which video plug-in to use in a conversation), no single point of contact to resolve problems, difficulty upgrading the entire network, and social issues like privacy and spam.

Wave supporters argue that the Wave protocol's weaknesses are strengths. That loose coupling provides for greater innovation in a marketplace of ideas (like software and music). That no single point of contact means no single point of failure, and no centralized control (like email).

It's still early, but now is when companies like Skype and Yahoo! and Microsoft and Cisco need to formulate something other than a wait-and-see strategy. Wave is as intensely viral and engaging as email. So you want to either jump on Wave's bandwagon or have your counter force strategy deployed before Wave hits tipping points and crosses the chasm from geek pioneers to the mainstream.

tags: skype, wave, google, googlewave

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