Touted by many as the next step in the evolution of email, Google Wave, currently still in beta testing, is a real-time multi-user communication and collaboration tool that has taken the tech industry by storm. It was only moments after the tech industry received their first peek at Wave back in late May that the hype over Google’s latest innovation began to spread. Over the past few months it has only grown: as I write this, coveted Google Wave invitations (sent only to 100,000 developers, who were then given the option to invite 5 friends each) are being sold on eBay and Craigslist.org. “WaveInvite” is currently a trending topic on Twitter and technology news sites are coming out with early reviews nearly once per hour.
But a fact of which many people might not be aware is that online communication and collaboration tools have been around for the better part of a decade. A quick search turned up literally dozens of potential Wave competitors, so why the buzz? Does it really do a better job or is it just because it’s being pushed by Google that it’s garnering so much attention? Read on for the answers to these questions and an introduction to a few collaboration tools that you can use, right now, and without needing one of Google’s golden tickets.
Zenbe Shareflow (Site)
I wrote about Shareflow in a recent review of Zenbe’s email service and I thought it was a great, free tool that integrated well with Zenbe’s advanced webmail tools. But Shareflow is so similar to Google Wave that many people have wondered if it might just be an outright rip-off. Peter Stern, Zenbe’s President, has a few words to say about that.
“Let’s suppose that Zenbe HAD copied Google Wave. That would mean that Zenbe managed to design, build and deploy a real, complete, useable product, along with everything needed to actually support a public service, all in less than a month! That would be phenomenal! Miraculous! You should check out Shareflow just to see the magic!”
Whether or not you call Shareflow a copycat or an example of parallel software evolution, Zenbe’s collaborative workspace has got a lot to offer. Shareflow works in much the same way as Wave, but instead of a Wave, you create a Flow. Zenbe encourages users to think of a Flow as a folder you fill with conversations, videos, pictures, and audio files related to your Flow’s subject.
Where Shareflow and Wave differ is in the details: Shareflow’s interface is more intuitive and more aesthetically pleasing, while Wave’s interface, while decent, is more utilitarian and can be confusing for first-time users. Shareflow does not allow you to communicate or edit a document in real-time, which is one of the most attractive features of Wave.
EtherPad (Site)
EtherPad is a collaborative workspace purely for documents. It lacks the abilities to share media files or integrate email, but it makes up for this in making document collaboration easy enough for practically anyone. Collaboration is real-time and smooth, and each user’s additions are highlighted in their (pastel) color of choice. You can also chat via a sidebar while you work.
Like Wave, EtherPad a playback features (called Time-Slider), that allows you to rewind changes made to a document. An advantage that EtherPad has over Wave is that you don’t have to go through any sign-up process: simply choose “Create a Public Pad” from the homepage, start typing, invite a friend via a built-in email invitation tool or the provided link to your pad, and start collaborating. If you’re just working on documents and want the simplest small-team solution, give EtherPad a try.
Scribblar (Site)
Scribblar is a simple and free-flowing virtual multi-user whiteboard. Its approach to collaborative workspace is much more graphics-oriented than Wave. In Scribblar, you’re not confined to neat message boxes like Shareflow or Wave: you’re free to draw, post images, add a text box, or flip the whole workspace around if you want. The workspace comes equipped with an array of pencil, line, and shape tools for creating graphs and charts, and the interface is well-designed. You can communicate with your group via the text-chat sidebar or, if you have a microphone and speakers, you can use the voice-chat system.
It may not have the open-ended usability of Wave or the structure of Shareflow, but it’s an amazingly powerful graphics-oriented collaboration that’s available, free, right now.
PyGoWave (Site)
If you simply couldn’t wait for Wave to become public, you’re not alone. One team of software developers decided to do something about though, with the result being PyGoWave, an open-source Wave-like project, written in Python, and based on the Google API. While it’s not really Wave (it doesn’t have the same interface or all of the features) it’s contains a lot of the functionality and you can try out what myself and many others consider the best part of Wave, the gadgets.
Gadgets are what you add to a Wave to give it special functionality, from the ability to turn emoticons into animated graphics to a full-featured embedded Twitter application. And nearly all of the gadgets currently available for Google Wave are available for PyGoWave.
While PyGoWave can’t really be considered competition for Google Wave (since it’s the same technology), it might be worth a look for anyone who wants to test-drive Wave’s functionality, minus the friendly interface.
Google Gets It Right
While Shareflow, EtherPad, and Scribblar were all created to help solve the same problem as Google Wave, they fall short in one important regard: the fact that they’re closed-source. The nature of their respective builds makes keeping up with the legions of potential Wave gadget developers unlikely. Proprietary software can’t hope to match the fervent zealotry that open-source software draws. If you need proof, just ask any Linux user.
The thing that makes Wave stand out amongst its competitors is simple: Google Wave isn’t an application or even a platform; it’s a protocol that can be used to create an endless array of specialized gadgets that can take communication and collaborative workspace to the next, unforeseen level. Now that I’ve had some hands-on experience with Wave, I am inclined to believe that the current hype at least matches its potential, if not the current product.
Hi Chris,
thanks for mentioning Scribblar in your article. Just to give the comparison to Wave some perspective: Scribblar was launched before Wave was even announced, and it was built by a one man team (me) over the duration of a year or so. Compare that to the almighty Google and it is understandable why Scribblar may seem to ‘fall short’ in some respects. I bet I could do better given a 100th of the budget that Google has available for Wave ;-)
Stefan, the fact that Scribblar works as smoothly and well as it does, and was built solely by one man, is amazing. What someone like you (or you) could do with the kind of crazy resources that Google has behind it, well, that’s what I’d love to see!
Awesome dude. all the best against the war against WAVE :D
Echoing Stefan from Scribblar’s sentiments. I’m the lead developer of Shareflow. We built it on a tight timeline with limited resources (and yes version was released before wave was even announced). These constraints forced us to focus on what people really want to do with their collaboration software. I agree the wave protocol is technically brilliant and has huge potential, but my experience with the Google Wave application as it stands today is that it is confusing and has not clearly defined it’s use case.
In contrast, the feedback we’ve gotten from our Shareflow users so far is that they like our system because the people they collaborate intuitively understand how to start contributing right off the bat. We’ve really focused on the human side of technology with Shareflow. I hope that shows through in our product.
I think that that’s precisely where Shareflow excels: it’s intuitive and remarkably more inviting than Wave.
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Chris Hoke and will bailey, Scribblar. Scribblar said: RT @chrishokeblog: Google Wave, Zenbe Shareflow, Etherpad and Scribblar: Fight! http://bit.ly/7ot45 [...]
I feel like Stefan!! We own beWeeVee wich is the engine that made possible tools like Wave and Etherpad but for Microsoft Platforms.
One thing none of these competitors (and perhaps Google itself as of now) get it, is the fact that you are fighting against e-mail. E-mail is still the king when it comes to collaboration, and until someone (internet actually) comes up with a way to replace email (it’s ability to work across the internet, whether propriety or not), there is no way we would see a clear winner.
The problem isn’t the Wave competitors (or their working against the giant Google), the problem is that none of these products are revolutionary at this time. However, Google Wave has a clear advantage if they manage to integrate email with Wave, clearly and effectively for average users.
Until you effortlessly get the average lay user to use your product and until that same average lay user effectively get his friends and family to use the same, we will still be stuck with email collaboration.
None of the above apps are anywhere near such effortless use.
But what could possibly replace email? I mean, Wave doesn’t really replace it, it seems to just incorporate it into the fold, along with chat. The whole time I’ve been working in Wave, I’ve also been emailing with my Wave-using friends. It doesn’t seem to be the next step, it seems like something completely different and new. Which is great, but not what everyone was expecting.
Besides, the problem with Wave supplanting email is that everyone would have to be on Wave OR many Wave-reading/editing applications will have to start showing up. The change would need to be industry-wide and embraced by the big tech companies. Might we see “Microsoft Wave” and “Yahoo! Wave” in the future? Somehow I doubt it, but I’d love to be wrong in this instance.
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