A couple of weeks ago, I covered the Google purchase, shutdown, and subsequent reopening of EtherPad. A couple of days ago, Google released the source.

Now there are at least five new public-access EtherPad servers operating in the wild, including one run by the Pirate Party of Sweden and one hosted by commercial collaboration wiki company PBWorks. I have written a brief guide to collaborative writing with EtherPad; it can be found here.

Google purchased EtherPad’s developer to add its staff to the Google Wave development team. I covered Google Wave back in October, and have since had the chance to try it out.

Some feel that Wave shows great potential for changing the nature of collaboration on the Internet. I have not been as impressed with what I have seen so far. The interface leaves much to be desired, and I have a hard time imagining what it might be useful for.

But certainly Google adding the experienced EtherPad developers to the team is a good sign things will be improving.

For those who would like to see for themselves what the fuss is about, I have 25 Google Wave invitations available. If you would like one, give me your email address. (If you’d rather not leave it in a comment, click my by-line and use one of the contact methods there.)

And once you’ve tried it, let us know what you think, especially if you have any ideas for a TeleRead-related use for it. (Or, for that matter, EtherPad.)

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TeleRead Editor Chris Meadows has been writing for us--except for a brief interruption--since 2006. Son of two librarians, he has worked on a third-party help line for Best Buy and holds degrees in computer science and communications. He clearly personifies TeleRead's motto: "For geeks who love books--and book-lovers who love gadgets." Chris lives in Indianapolis and is active in the gamer community.

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3 COMMENTS

  3. Hi Chris,

    I was using Yahoo Groups (they bought and crippled Dutch “Clubs” software, while Google Groups is even poorer; all quite outdated) and a little Drupal and Mediawiki site setup for some information freedom activist news. Most issues could be done in Drupal and/or Mediawiki. But now there is Wave…

    Then my girlfriend and I both have some stories to write books about. She about (extreme) personal experiences and I about some political murder research.

    So don’t know what to do. Maybe just start with Open Office to get the text digitalised, get Mediawiki and/or Drupal ready with add-ons. Must be secret and encrypted too, as the first edits contain too much personal info. I haven’t figured it out yet.

    Anyway, I’d applied for Wave, but probably my remarks about Yahoo versus Google groups were not a main reason to select me.

    Hope you still have an invitation for THE Wave and mayeb can give more suggestions how to get to publish a book; both on internet and bookstores.

    Thanks.

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