Wave Goodbye

A couple of days ago Google announced they would no longer be developing Wave as a standalone product and would only guarantee to keep it running until the end of the year.  I'm not particularly surprised as it was never very clear what the service was good for and it was not the most intuitive of things to use.  I think 2 key points come out of this:

1. For users - web/cloud services have many advantages over traditional software but the user is at the mercy of the provider.   If they pull the plug then you're stuffed.
2. For Google - rapidly launching, developing and sometimes withdrawing services is good for innovation on the web but if users start to lose confidence in the permanence of services they will be reluctant to invest the time and effort in learning how to use them.  This is particularly true for the corporate market where time is money.  There is already a strong reluctance among many corporate IT managers to migrate services to the web and, for those that were aware of Wave, this won't have helped.

Google Wave - what is it good for?

I think this picture sums up the reality of Google Wave - nice idea that never got traction.  However, now it is open to everyone (since May invites are no longer necessary) that may change a little.  But 2 main issues still remain: what can you use it for and how does it work?  I've been playing around with Wave for the last few months and still find it confusing and have not found a compelling use for it. Perhaps third party gadgets will create some demand - the new mind mapping gadget, mindmeister, looks interesting and I can see its value for virtual brainstorming sessions.  Does anyone have any examples of Wave being used in real situations?

(Note: I'm not sure who to attribute this image to.  I found it at http://i.imgur.com/zVn91.jpg )