I think so.  It all started with Google Maps - and evolved into a new model of Communication ...... Google Waves code is pretty lightweight - from what I can see in the Online Video for Google Wave, below).  By the way, and it's all Open Sourced.
Google will fully complete it's transformation  from a Search Engine - which is not only where it started - to a new platform and way to communicate within 18 months - I predict (ie: see Google Wave as an interactive Translation tool as one example - 73 minutes into the Google Wave Demo video, below).
It looks like Google Wave is an environment that allows you to run other applications like Firefox, in it. Once you have applications running in Google Wave, you can move things in between them (like photos - looks like 15 minutes in you can see that).
BTW, I'd love one or two of those cool Google Wave t-shirts to wear.
About 10 minutes into the video above there's an integration of instant messaging and email in the same thread, which isn't possible until wave (one tool instead of two); some of the limitations of current email applications are due to the architecture of HTML 5, and the way email evolved (see 39 minutes into this video above - it's explained much as I have said it above - Wave could not evolved without Google Toolkit and the more you use these tools, the more your brain changes - the more your self expression changes!).
Naturally, tools evolve as the need for them change, and I don't know that a platform like Google Wave could have evolved 10 years ago, even if the software to create it might have existed - because the user base and need for it - probably wasn't ready - but it is now.
For Blogging, Google Wave has a lot of offer - creating a Wave and embedding it in a Blog Post (20 minutes in to the video) - though it makes me wonder if Google Wave will change the nature of Blogging, itself. And the question becomes - how will the iPhone run it - how will mobile devices use it (can they?) and how the experience of using Google Wave on an iPhone (say, next year) will change the nature of Mobile Social Networking (look at 25-26 minutes in to the online video above).
Google Wave deconstructs what a document is - see 30 minutes in - and you can play it back - the whole history of the Google Waves your part of (much the way I do art on the iPhone - see iPhone Art - now everyone is doing it! at ArtNewYorkCity.com).  The Implications for Newspaper and Magazine production are profound, as well as for Metrics Tracking - which is going to be interesting - since there's an opportunity now to build hooks to make Analytics Tracking much easier - something Flash should have done way back, but never did.
What's interesting here - is that the Application of Google Wave is more advanced than what the audience can yet handle and process - that's my feedback - The brothers who wrote this - also conceived on Google Wave as a Documentation Tool (to track your other Google Waves - see 41 minutes into the clip above).
Extending the Functionality of Google Wave is covered 43 minutes into the Online Video on Google Wave, above; the Context Spell Check is an extension that can do an auto-correct (44:00 - 46:00) and also detects links (linky - 45 minutes in).  The "Yes/No/Maybe" Gadget at 50 minutes in the Google Wave Video above is very interesting way of updating a collaborative document.
Creating new Google Waves from Robots has implications for Search Optimization, I suspect, and next year, I would not be so surprised to be on a panel at Search Engine Strategies talking about it - or write a nice article on it for Entrepreneurs at Entrepreneur.com, where I write a column of Web Analytics, Social Media and Search Marketing (see Learn to Measure Your Web Presence and Turn Conversations Into Sales as recent articles of mine over at Entrepreneur.com).
Server Side Robot Extensions are possible as well - a Wave on a Web Server, like a Web Form on the Wave (59 Minutes into the video of Google Wave). You can use Twitter in a Google Wave (Twave or is it Tweety? - 58 minutes to 62 minutes in); you can essentially run applications on a server and call into other programs and thread them into Google Wave as a Robot Extension. There's a Bug Code tracker that replaces products like ClearQuest (thank god!) at 62 minutes into the clip above, and you can use Google Wave to discuss the Bug Tracking within it - you can also automatically pull in bugs into a Wave and track them there.
Essentially, Google is creating a new architecture to build applications - so a company, say a Job Search Engine, could build it's own Wave - and I, if I could do it, build my own customized Google Wave for me, and in fact, Google Wave will be great for Non-Profits - who can make much more powerful applications - Google calls it a Federated System.  I predict that programmers to specialize on Google Wave applications and extensions will do very well in the coming years.
Interestingly, Google has anticipated the private use of data, data that Google can't see (69 minutes in) - even though the executable is on Google's servers, the information being passed back and forth, isn't ever seen by Google.
Mitch Joel has a good post on Google Wave, Marketing And The Future Of Connecting
It is way too early to tell, but there are some indications that if a platform like Google Wave does take off, it will fragment the concept of an online social network and splinter it down to a place where these areas are not used by masses to congregate and boast how many friends or connections they have, but perhaps the metric becomes how many waves individuals are engaged with and how active the conversation and collaboration is. The platform obviously creates much more targeted inventory for advertising with the Google AdWords model (much like it does over at Gmail), but depending on how open or private these waves will be, this could also be one of those moments in time where people shift from having their opinions out in public, back into smaller, cozier and more personal conversations in a Google Wave.
So ..... Google Wave is going to change Marketing - and it's really early on now - so I see the full implementation of Google Wave about 18 months out - which mean this is the time to ramp up - to .... Get On the Wave.
In fact, I've often thought of the metaphor of "The Wave" being on the "Crest of the Wave" - part of the being a visionary, is being ahead of the rest of the Ocean - you need to be like a surfer, riding on the top of the Wave.
Most people don't have a lot yet to say about Google Wave, but they will ... in about 18 months -Â don't wait that long - start straining your thoughts to the crest of The Wave, now - and leave the rest, who can't adapt that quickly, where they are (stuck).
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