The Death of Google Wave and the Risk of Using Non-Enterprise Tools
Categories: Technology
The crest of Google Wave has come and gone. Just over a year ago there were people on Ebay clambering to buy an invitation to the service and now, not even twelve months later, Google has announced that Wave was not a success and that it will be shut down. Whether you jumped on the Wave bandwagon or not we all have to wonder whether it's even worth it to get acclimated to a new tool if the owners/creators of that tool can just shut it down leaving our data and our work hanging out to dry. It would be easy to use such a case to justify only using enterprise tools that live on company-controlled servers that may not be the best tools for the job but are at least under our control. It would be easy but it wouldn't always be right. First, investing in large enterprise solutions means that you've put all of your very expensive eggs in one vendor's basket. If the tool turns out not to be what you need after all, well you've gone too far to turn back. Next, now that you've got that expensive tool suite you have to maintain it, the servers it lives on, and the staff necessary to keep it up and running. Again, more huge investments in something that can become out of date or unnecessary pretty darn fast. Finally, buying one solution doesn't mean that it will properly fit every need in your organization. Just because the marketing department finds it to be useful for collaboration doesn't mean that R&D will see it as a good fit for their needs. As temporary as they may be, web-based applications allow firms the opportunity to test drive tools with low commitment. In addition to being free, these tools are often easier to use and accessible from anywhere your employees choose to engage. There are, of course, dangers (security, privacy, regulatory compliance etc) but these can all be overcome with proper planning. What do you think? Are online tools too temporary to be relied on? Does your organization use web-hosted tools?
