The Wait for Google Wave Is Almost Over

Google is getting closer to launching its upcoming revolutionary communications service Wave and will roll out the product for 100,000 new users and businesses come September 30. There has been a lot of anticipation for Google Wave ever since it was introduced at the beginning of this summer but not that many people have actually managed to get to use it. Now Google is expanding the user base but this isn't a full-blown release as the platform isn't ready for public use just yet.

Wave was introduced at the Google I/O conference in San Francisco in late May this year. At the time the product made quite an impression on the developers at the conference and tech-savvy users around the world. The idea to merge IM, email, wiki and a bunch of other communications and collaboration tools in one product was enough to get people's imaginations going and with Google behind it Wave may actually deliver on the lofty promise.

But there was a reason Wave was unveiled at a developers’ conference; besides being the Swiss army knife of online communications services it will also have a very robust platform for developers to build on, expanding the functionality and customizing the product for all needs. In fact, Wave has so far been available mostly to a few lucky developers who have been testing and creating applications for it over the summer.

The time has come though for the product to see a wider release and Google has promised 100,000 new users will be invited to join the test in a couple of days so there should be plenty of room for all curious users though expect plenty of interest in the product. Interestingly but perhaps unsurprising, Google has announced that Apps users will be given preference and some businesses and organizations have been already granted access.

There was a little bit of pre-launch controversy about the upcoming product very recently when Google launched the Chrome Frame for Internet Explorer basically turning its Chrome browser into a plugin running inside IE. The part that got some people worked up is the fact that Wave users will be required to install the plugin if they want to have access to the service in IE. We should find out if Wave was worth the wait in a couple of days and users who haven't signed up can do so at the Google Wave site to get a chance to participate in the extended test.