Google is certainly hoping the Google Wave will be as popular as surfing is on the North Shore of Kauai. But just like surfing, not everyone is going to want to try it and if they do try it, not everyone is going to like it. I've been fortunate enough to see the Google Wave in action and I must admit, it has some great features. It’s not just another IM program or a social networking site. This is about Google improving upon technologies that already exist.

It wasn't that long ago, many people thought the Internet would never take off. Comments were made such as: no one will ever use it, why would I ever need that or why would I ever use that? There was a time when cell phones were the size of briefcases and you were probably in the FBI if you had one. Today, it seems everyone uses the Internet and everyone has a cell phone. As we get used to certain tools and certain programs, we think we won't use or need another one. Then, another product or application is launched and we wonder how we ever lived without it. For years AOL and Yahoo had the search market sewn up, then Google came in and dominated…. and they have never looked back. But can they do it again? This is the burning question. Google has created many things to compete with other giants; Google apps vs. Microsoft, Android phone vs. iPhone, Orkut vs. facebook and the list goes on and on. So far, Google has failed to dominate outside of their search engine, Google.com. Can the Google Wave be the answer that Google has been looking for to dominate social networking?

The Google Wave offers users a new way to communicate; a more effective way to communicate. The Google Wave will in a sense make e–mail and instant messaging look archaic. The Wave allows users to communicate by combining all aspects of e–mail, instant messaging, social networking and real time editing. Perhaps the Google Wave will be the host to all future conference calls. Instead of people flying to one central place to brainstorm, the Wave may soon be the host to computers across the world, all riding the wave in live time.

Google will have to wait and see what the world thinks of their latest and greatest. It will either be the wave everyone wants to ride or the one they let pass them by and crash into the shoreline.

Look for future blogs on my reviews of the Google Wave, how everyone is using it, and if Google may finally have something outside their search engine that can dominate another market.