» complete guide

Google Wave is a new online communications tool that enables groups of people to edit and discuss documents simultaneously on the web. The Google Wave team says Wave is "what email would look like if it were invented today." 

However, because Wave is mostly a document collaboration tool, the oversimplified email metaphor can mislead new users. The initial Wave experience can feel chaotic and confusing, but use cases for Wave abound. Come on in and meet Wave.

Google Wave’s biggest downfall is how confusing it can be for new users when they try it out. Parody web site www.EasierToUnderstandThanWave.com jokes that heady topics like radiocarbon dating, neoclassical economics, and polymodal chromaticism are easier to understand than Wave.

The joke rings true because the initial Wave confusion is a nearly universal experience. The first waves you’re bound to receive from your friends and co-workers, fresh on Wave, will say things like "I don’t get it" and "This is weird."

The Wave tool is kinda odd to me too and at first it was notoriously difficult to understand. This guide will help. Here you’ll learn how to use Google Wave to get things done with your group. Because Wave is such a new product that’s evolving quickly, this guidebook is a work in progress that will update in concert with Wave as it grows and changes.

The Complete Guide to Google Wave is a comprehensive user manual by Gina Trapani with Adam Pash. Read more about The Complete Guide to Google Wave.