Google Goes Apache on the Wave - The UpStream

Google Goes Apache on the Wave

posted Sunday Nov 28, 2010 by Scott Ertz

Google Goes Apache on the Wave

Google Wave is not as dead as we expected. Google and Novell have submitted to the Apache Software Foundation that they take over the majority of codebase from Google Wave. While the move is a bit odd, it isn't a huge surprise.

After shutting down Google Wave earlier this year, Google decided to make its source code available to the open source community. We just were not sure exactly how it was going to go from an internal project to the Wave in a Box they wanted.

Hit the break to find out how this is any different from just releasing the source code.

If the code were released as a general package for anyone, then there would be tons of minor modifications all over the Internet. By giving it to an organization like Apache to administer, it means there would be a collaborative project based around the original code.

This means that instead of lots of people working on their own minor projects, all of these would come together to form one cohesive end-product. Well, as much as open-source has ever been able to accomplish that goal.

The Apache Software Foundation is definitely the best example of a cohesive group of developers working towards a single goal we have ever seen in the open source community. The Apache web server is their most widely known product, being used to run servers as high-profile as Facebook.

Can their high-that-average open source attention to detail make Wave into a product that people might actually want use in the future, or is it doomed to be one of the more expensive software failures of the decade? Tell us your feelings in the comments section.

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