6 June 2009 · futures, Google, java, wave, web development

I've just (finally!) finished viewing the developer preview video of Google's Wave project from the recent Google I/O gathering. If I had time I would be brushing up my Java right now. I understand that the Java world was somewhat upset that Google App Engine supported only Python as a programming language for so long. Well, Wave is based on the Google Web Toolkit (GWT), a fascinating development platform that allows you to program in Java and deliver AJAX applications automatically translated (on the client side) into JavaScript. So now it's time for us Python guys to stand in line.

Wave is an amazing demonstration of where the web is going, and our lives are going to be richer for it. It's an entirely new approach to personal communication, and clearly demonstrates that open architectures are (pun intended) the wave of the future. Google are actively looking for people to get involved with the project already.

More later. For now I am too blown away to do much more than sit here thinking about the potential. I am also excited that this represents a bundle of opportunities for the open source world to demonstrate technical leadership. Unless other vendors have come up with some competing web-based technology I'm not aware of, and I'd be happy to learn about that too.

Information about the Wave platform (and, of course, the open source code) is on Google Code. The open Wave protocol details are on a separate site. Look for Wave's public arrival later in the year. Nice job, Google.