I miss Google Wave and the many features it had. I don't think Google gave it enough time to catch on with the public. The real time chat feature and the myriad of scripts and programs you could use was growing. Of course, in the fast paced, ever changing world of the internet you must keep up. But don't close down something that could have really made an impact on the net. With their billions of dollars it seems they could have let it play out for at least a year or two. Revenues are important for any corporation, that's not the point that should be made here though. Integration of Adwords or Adsense in a non exploitive way would have worked as an income stream to help keep the project afloat. People want innovation and sometimes it takes awhile before it catches on. The early adopters are the visionaries who take the chance to explore new ways of thinking. People say it was difficult to navigate and it took forever to load. It was not that bad in terms of a learning curve. You could have picked it up in a matter of minutes with just a bit of effort and concentration. Loading the application in the beginning took forever, I agree, but they worked on improving the speed and it was noticeable towards the end.
My hope is that Google takes a second look at the entire project and makes whatever changes that were learned from the initial roll out. No one expects it to be the next Facebook, and it wasn't that kind of platform to begin with. But when you look at the implications and impact it would eventually have with new and better features for the future it could have been a real game changer for Google. Let's see if someone takes the challenge to create another great free communication tool for the masses other than email.