Google Wave’s Misfire Is A Lesson for Today's Real-Time Collaboration Tools

Google Wave was the first unified workspace and collaboration platform before the remote-work boom happened. In less than two years, Google Wave failed. Lack of product focus, positioning problems and lackluster release plan were only some of its problems. With the renaissance of real-time collaboration tools in full swing, reflecting on the story of their predecessor can provide valuable lessons for the future. Let’s see how the story unfolded from its inception under the codename “Walkabout” to the eventual shutdown in April 2012 and open-source retirement in 2018.