Comments on: what’s right about Google http://www.syntheticzero.com/?p=828 art, life, philosophy, architecture, literature, film, performance, and other stuff Fri, 17 Apr 2026 08:27:48 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.6.2 By: mitsu http://www.syntheticzero.com/?p=828#comment-547 mitsu Mon, 30 Nov 2009 00:10:37 +0000 http://www.syntheticzero.com/?p=828#comment-547 (As for the working on it: I'll be talking about that soon when we're a bit farther along...) (As for the working on it: I’ll be talking about that soon when we’re a bit farther along…)

]]> By: mitsu http://www.syntheticzero.com/?p=828#comment-546 mitsu Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:48:16 +0000 http://www.syntheticzero.com/?p=828#comment-546 I agree it's a prototype, but the problem is the prototype already has built into it a ton of limitations. The problem isn't just the UI, it's the entire conceptualization of the tool, the metaphors used, the structural assumptions. I think if there is going to be something great coming out of Wave it will simply be the idea of real-time multimedia document editing, transferred to a radically different context, with different addressing, different rules. I.e., the very "playback" concept itself, while clever, itself imposes severe restrictions on its utility... I'm not sure how a reskin could ever fix these problems. Someday, someone might make something cool with the underlying Wave API, but likely as not someone will just start over and make the next really cool thing. I agree it’s a prototype, but the problem is the prototype already has built into it a ton of limitations. The problem isn’t just the UI, it’s the entire conceptualization of the tool, the metaphors used, the structural assumptions. I think if there is going to be something great coming out of Wave it will simply be the idea of real-time multimedia document editing, transferred to a radically different context, with different addressing, different rules. I.e., the very “playback” concept itself, while clever, itself imposes severe restrictions on its utility… I’m not sure how a reskin could ever fix these problems.

Someday, someone might make something cool with the underlying Wave API, but likely as not someone will just start over and make the next really cool thing.

]]> By: Lawrence Wang http://www.syntheticzero.com/?p=828#comment-545 Lawrence Wang Sun, 29 Nov 2009 23:33:44 +0000 http://www.syntheticzero.com/?p=828#comment-545 Uncertainty: Getting lost is what should happen in your work, not in your tools. Having an intuitive email client doesn't constrain the process of figuring out what to say... Wave: Wave is a crazy mess, yeah. But the key thing to keep in mind is that Wave is not finished; in fact, it's only just getting started. This is the open source development process: let the public bang on it and expose its flaws; roll out improvements; iterate. I predict that if Wave ever takes off, it will be because people outside of Google with great design sense build an interface on top of it focused around a cohesive vision of user experience. "I'm working on it": Do tell! Uncertainty: Getting lost is what should happen in your work, not in your tools. Having an intuitive email client doesn’t constrain the process of figuring out what to say…

Wave: Wave is a crazy mess, yeah. But the key thing to keep in mind is that Wave is not finished; in fact, it’s only just getting started. This is the open source development process: let the public bang on it and expose its flaws; roll out improvements; iterate.

I predict that if Wave ever takes off, it will be because people outside of Google with great design sense build an interface on top of it focused around a cohesive vision of user experience.

“I’m working on it”: Do tell!

]]>