If you haven't already, watch this right now.
Without the decentralization/federation aspect, this would still be an amazing web app that would wipe out every other communication platform.
But if this thing is completely open and federated when they launch.. if I really can download their server implementation and get my own Wave server running instantly.. and we can hack on any part of the stack, end to end.. then this is, without exaggeration, the biggest fucking deal since NCSA Mosaic, bigger really since that was just a client.
This solves about 3/4 of the current problems with the internet. Communication, collaboration, publishing, interop, extensibility, open standards, early community involvement.. they've got everything covered and from what I can see, they've done it all perfectly. Google has fixed the god damn internet. I was fighting back tears watching this.
A unified standard for human communication is long overdue. I started sketching one out myself a while ago, but I never wrote a line of code. Why bother? Too much to write (if you're not Google) and no way to get critical mass (if you're not Google). I had resigned myself to a future of crippled, insecure silo junk like Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail (yes, it's a silo). And then.. this. Kaboom.
You won't be hearing Twitter brag about how they have no features and a character limit anymore. You probably won't be hearing about them at all in a few years. They add no functional value to communication.. they are architectural middle-men and Wave mends the wound they were sucking on.
Facebook can win big if they start integrating with (more like migrating to) this now, but they might have to turn their code upside down. For any app that is not just a stopgap or glue, that has actual functionality, or anybody who has unrealized visions for such an app, Wave is a very very good thing.
Email is finished. Spam is finished.
A lot of existing code will be thrown out, things will be a lot simpler, and developers will start working on entirely new classes of problems.
I've never been a big Google fan, but this redeems them for any lapses in their once believable "don't be evil" policy. In fact, this kind of fanaticism is not like me at all, but this is the real deal. Remember where you were.
Without the decentralization/federation aspect, this would still be an amazing web app that would wipe out every other communication platform.
But if this thing is completely open and federated when they launch.. if I really can download their server implementation and get my own Wave server running instantly.. and we can hack on any part of the stack, end to end.. then this is, without exaggeration, the biggest fucking deal since NCSA Mosaic, bigger really since that was just a client.
This solves about 3/4 of the current problems with the internet. Communication, collaboration, publishing, interop, extensibility, open standards, early community involvement.. they've got everything covered and from what I can see, they've done it all perfectly. Google has fixed the god damn internet. I was fighting back tears watching this.
A unified standard for human communication is long overdue. I started sketching one out myself a while ago, but I never wrote a line of code. Why bother? Too much to write (if you're not Google) and no way to get critical mass (if you're not Google). I had resigned myself to a future of crippled, insecure silo junk like Twitter, Facebook, and Gmail (yes, it's a silo). And then.. this. Kaboom.
You won't be hearing Twitter brag about how they have no features and a character limit anymore. You probably won't be hearing about them at all in a few years. They add no functional value to communication.. they are architectural middle-men and Wave mends the wound they were sucking on.
Facebook can win big if they start integrating with (more like migrating to) this now, but they might have to turn their code upside down. For any app that is not just a stopgap or glue, that has actual functionality, or anybody who has unrealized visions for such an app, Wave is a very very good thing.
Email is finished. Spam is finished.
A lot of existing code will be thrown out, things will be a lot simpler, and developers will start working on entirely new classes of problems.
I've never been a big Google fan, but this redeems them for any lapses in their once believable "don't be evil" policy. In fact, this kind of fanaticism is not like me at all, but this is the real deal. Remember where you were.
Lasers are not just for Styx concerts and killing people in the future, they are also practical everyday tools.
The Hacklab, of which I am a member, is now laser-capable, and I'm not talking about the pointer variety... We're packing 25W of stuff blasting power!
These bad boys normally sell for tens of thousands of dollars but we found ours on craigslist for a cool $500. It was missing the electronics to control it but fortunately there was enough collective evil genius at the lab to rebuild it in about a week.
Behold our unstoppable power!
We will vaporize one country every day until we are payed ONE MILLION DOLLARS. And not those loser countries either, the good ones with disposable income. You're first, Lichtenstein.
The Hacklab, of which I am a member, is now laser-capable, and I'm not talking about the pointer variety... We're packing 25W of stuff blasting power!
These bad boys normally sell for tens of thousands of dollars but we found ours on craigslist for a cool $500. It was missing the electronics to control it but fortunately there was enough collective evil genius at the lab to rebuild it in about a week.
Behold our unstoppable power!
We will vaporize one country every day until we are payed ONE MILLION DOLLARS. And not those loser countries either, the good ones with disposable income. You're first, Lichtenstein.
Yesterday was my last day of youth and today, my first as a legitimate and useful member of society. I turn thirty possessing the vigor of a twenty year old, the wisdom of a forty year old, and the humility of a two year old.
Read more...
Here's some lovely art:
That's nice! But so crude. Let's just fix that up a little:
Much better. Oh, you don't agree?
Here's something else amazing:
Yeah, just that thing.
You see, in this new age of casual written communication, people were having trouble expressing emotional context, so they invented new punctuation marks from existing characters. They even managed to make the punctuation marks resemble the physical manifestations of emotions so that their meanings would be implicitly obvious. There are many others.
I find that amazing. If any postmodern artist from the past saw that, they would fucking freak. Humans are awesome <3 <3 <3
However, when my email program finds one of these things, it shows this instead:
My email program does this because it is tasteless and simple minded. I really am embarassed to be seen with it.
If you make an email program, or any of the other things that normally do this, don't do this. You don't replace the word "be" with a picture of a bee. You don't make the word "jump" actually jump around the screen. So don't do this either. Don't fuck with language.
That's nice! But so crude. Let's just fix that up a little:
Much better. Oh, you don't agree?
Here's something else amazing:
Yeah, just that thing.
You see, in this new age of casual written communication, people were having trouble expressing emotional context, so they invented new punctuation marks from existing characters. They even managed to make the punctuation marks resemble the physical manifestations of emotions so that their meanings would be implicitly obvious. There are many others.
I find that amazing. If any postmodern artist from the past saw that, they would fucking freak. Humans are awesome <3 <3 <3
However, when my email program finds one of these things, it shows this instead:
My email program does this because it is tasteless and simple minded. I really am embarassed to be seen with it.
If you make an email program, or any of the other things that normally do this, don't do this. You don't replace the word "be" with a picture of a bee. You don't make the word "jump" actually jump around the screen. So don't do this either. Don't fuck with language.