OT

Has anybody seen Google’s latest “game-changing” product, called “Wave”?

Looks really cool. But I can’t tell if it is a standalone app or a “web-based app” i.e. a web site one goes to.

And is there a beta version we can try out? I agree that communications are fractured on the Web. This could be big, if done right.

Google is uniting instant messaging, e-mail and document collaboration into a new product with the audacious goal of changing how people communicate online.

Wave, as the product is called, erodes the distinction between the various ways people keep in touch on the Web and eliminates the need to use multiple tools to do so.

Google previewed Wave, a free product, at its annual developers conference in San Francisco. but won’t make Wave available to the public until sometime later this year. Additionally, Google intends to incorporate some of Wave’s features into its existing products like e-mail and documents.

Wave’s users invite others to join their a “wave” about a particular topic so that they can follow the thread of messages, much like a bulletin board. Everyone on the list can see individual messages as they’re being typed, letter by letter, like Instant messaging taken to the extreme, to speed up the conversation (there’s an option to turn off the real-time feature, which will no doubt be handy for people often revise what they write before hitting send.)

Users can drag and drop photos and maps onto the waves to make them immediately visible to others. They can also edit documents together, potentially appealing to workers who are collaborating together on a project and who would otherwise use wikis.

Wave is targeted at both consumers, for communicating with family and friends, and businesses.