Google Wave becomes Apache Wave

The Google Wave project isn’t dead, as it is now been picked up for development under the direction of the Apache Foundation.

For a lot of people, Google Wave is one of Google’s biggest flops. The project aimed to make real time collaboration easier by mixing together numerous communication concepts (e-mail, instant messaging, shared documents), although it had trouble getting users enthusiastic, with the comment often being that it was too complex and difficult to follow without a clear objective.

Abandoned by Google in the summer, the project has now been granted a second life. Google are facilitating this work by launching the open source Wave in a Box project. This autonomous project integrates a server and client application which supports real time collaboration by using the same conversations structure previously seen in the Google Wave system.

The development of Wave in a Box and its Wave Federation protocols will be overseen by an active user community under the guidance of the Apache Software Foundation which has accepted the Apache Wave name to indicate the development is under its tutelage.

The Apache Software Foundation is a non-profit organisation who develops free software under the Apache license. Among their programs is the very popular Apache HTTP server.