So when everyone was expecting them to compete with Gmail, they've gone and imitated... Goggle Wave?
Wave's sophistication was in it's "protocol-ish" nature, with more in common with SMTP than with "Email".
Of course telling end users how cool SMTP is by providing an ugly, slow email client is going to have predictably bad results; which is exactly what happened to Wave.
I would argue that Facebook's new "thing" is the opposite of Google's Wave; it is a slick finish on a cobbled-together collection of communication mechanisms instead of a robust general-purpose collaboration protocol with a shoddy "alpha-class" UI.
Unfortunately guess which approach typically gains commercial success?
Aside: Google's Wave UI really was just a technology preview. It wasn't the product. People are confused by this (and rightly so), but it's not what made Wave awesome. The UI was merely what was added on top of the protocol so they had something they could show to the press.
Google failed Wave in that it made it out to be a different product. People confused Google Wave the UI with Google Wave the protocol.
Basically, Google should have made Wave apart of Gmail like Facebook is doing by making their messaging system apart of the default UI people are already used to.
How exactly did you find out about Google Wave and how it differs so much from Google Wave?
Google Wave was two things: a protocol and a UI. The UI was merely a way to preview the protocol. The protocol was awesome, the UI not so much. People made the assumption that the UI was what Google was pushing, when the reality was, the UI was merely a way to demonstrate the protocol. Unfortunately, both the UI and the protocol shared the same name.
Hopefully you understand the difference now. =)
Wasn't this by getting everyone to switch to Wave instead of email/GTalk? Facebook seems to have a more realistic approach here.
Basically, Facebook is doing what Google should have done, baking the new stuff into the existing UI set.
I feel that there has been some space for a MSN replacement for a while. Microsof lack of innovation of MSN is a sign. (Wave tried to get it but failed though)