Google Wave officially dead as Google prepares to shut down
updated 05:00 pm EDT, Mon April 30, 2012
Google Wave finally gets shutdown after weak adoption
As promised, Google has pulled the plug on its Google Wave online communications service. It launched in 2009 but never got off the ground, and development on the project stopped back in mid-2010. Support continued, however, due to the open-source nature of the undertaking.
The service initially promised to bring with it an app store, though this never materialized. It also allowed users to share documents and multimedia files, which could be edited by multiple users.
Wave didn't attract enough interest, thought at least partly due to its complexity of use. The servers are going down sometime on Monday, with users urged to export any documents or files they want to keep. Apache Software Foundation will continue to work on Wave, however, while Google will focus on its Google+ service.
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Joined: May 2012
Startups inspired by Google Wave
There are several startups that have been inspired by Google Wave:
* http://rizzoma.com/ - free and open source, it continues and expands the Google Wave philosophy with cool features like tasks and Twitter-like mentions.
* http://co-meeting.com/ - very similar to Google Wave at first glance, but seems to focus more on meetings.
* http://runby.me/ - a B2B service for companies that go heavy on text-based communications. It is designed to support both email and hosted conversations within a single UX, allows to assign tasks and keep track of them, and has built-in workflows for general communications, helpdesk, Kanban and sales.