Google Wave Combines E-Mail, Messaging, Documents

Google is uniting instant messaging, e-mail and document collaboration into a new service called Wave.

The service will erode the distinction between the various ways people keep in touch on the Web and eliminate the need to use multiple tools to do so, the company said.

Google previewed Wave at its annual developers conference in San Francisco.

The free service won't be available to the public until sometime later this year. Additionally, Google intends to incorporate some of Wave's features into its other services like e-mail and documents.

Wave's users invite others to join their "wave" about a particular topic so they can follow the thread of messages, much like a bulletin board.

Everyone on the list can see individual messages as they're being typed, letter by letter, like instant messaging taken to the extreme, to speed up the conversation.

Users can drag and photos and maps onto the waves to make them immediately visible to others.

They can also edit documents together, potentially appealing to workers who are collaborating on a project and who would otherwise use wikis.