Google has a way of inventing things that people do not know they need until they understand the product. Its latest such creation is Google Wave

Google has a way of inventing things that people do not know they need until they understand the product. Its latest such creation is Google Wave. It’s not email. It’s not chat. Rather, a Wave is a document that acts like a conversation, live and changeable on the fly. Rich media drives the experience. But you won’t really know how much you need it until Google actually gives it to you.

A wave is equal parts conversation and document. People can communicate and work together with richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.

A wave is shared. Any participant can reply anywhere in the message, edit the content and add participants at any point in the process. Then playback lets anyone rewind the wave to see who said what and when.

A wave is live. With live transmission as you type, participants on a wave can have faster conversations, see edits and interact with extensions in real-time.