Catch a wave

Delighted to get a Google Wave account at the weekend. And 20 invitations which I have already had requests for at a ratio of about 5:1. If you haven't heard of this then you soon will (and there are links in some previous posts). Think e-mail, IM, live collaboration on a document, image or video sharing, maps showing where you or something mentioned is, polls all rolled into one application that lets you see someone's message or additions as they enter them rather than waiting for them to hit send and you may get the idea.

I'll be trying it out with some carefully chosen friends, probably doing something silly like planning a trip to Greece or boring like agreeing a meeting agenda at first and then hopefully extending it as we get more expert and figuring out what we can achieve.

If you think you could be a useful ally in this trial then contact me - there should be a link somewhere on the blog. Or look on my web site.

So, to end as I started, with a Beach Boys track, Let's go surfin' now, everybody's surfin' now, surfin' USA . . . and UK.

There's another wave coming

Microsoft also tend to be a little backward in coming forward sometimes. I've mentioned the brilliant deal on Office 2007 available to many and time is running out for the most quietly announced Windows 7 cut-price offer too. Now I discover they have a Wave of their own, obviously hoping that this will prevent Google claiming the word as their own!

An attractive site (Google still have a bit to learn there) sets out in reasonably plain English what they're up to and links to various betas, trials etc. Worth dropping in from time to time.

Microsoft Wave