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ZenBe releases Shareflow, seems similar to Google Wave
We all went ga-ga over Google Wave when it was announced back at Google's I/O conference in May, but except for a very fortunate few, we really don't know what it will be like to use. Today online productivity suite developer ZenBe released a new product called Shareflow, which has a number of similarities to Google Wave.
Shareflow is a collaboration tool that ZenBe says is not email, IM, social networking, or instant messaging, but has elements of all of them. Sound familiar? The idea is that you can organize conversations around topics by creating "flows" and inviting people to collaborate on them. This maps directly to Google's concept of creating "waves" and inviting people to them.
Obviously Shareflow and Wave are not identical, and as with anything their respective implementations will have many differences. Beyond implementation differences, there are three fundamental differences between Shareflow and Wave that are worth noting:
- Wave will be a free and predominantly open-source product, while Shareflow is a closed-source commercial product (albeit with a free account as one of the various plan levels)
- Wave has the strength of Google behind it
- You can't use Wave today, but you can use Shareflow
You can sign up for a free account, or use the promo code FREE30 to get 30 days free of either their Basic, Plus, or Premium plan.
Comments
6
Subscribe to commentssandraJul 16th 2009 10:37AM
A PAID "version" of Google Wave?? When did they release this? Even if this was free they couldn't compete with Google. Shame, gonna be huge money down the drain for them.
rells009Jul 16th 2009 12:05PM
That's a fairly big assumption. There are lots of paid versions of applications and services that are worth their admittance fee.
Also there is the advantage that you can get started with Shareflow today.
Zenbe TeamJul 16th 2009 11:46AM
Just a note: Shareflow didn't launch today. It's been live since March, as part of the Zenbe Mail suite. We launched it as a standalone product last month.
We're excited about Wave, and look forward to seeing it develop, and will be looking for integration points. You can read more on our reaction to the Wave announcement here:
http://blog.zenbe.com/2009/06/01/excited-about-google-wave/
and here:
http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=697087
- Zenbe Team
Bill@WaveHelpForumJul 16th 2009 2:09PM
Because Wave is open source, companies don't have to compete with Google, they can be part of it. Companies similar to ZenBe who are already a step ahead of other developers, are poised to make copious amounts of money by integrating their products with Google Wave.
I think in the early stages of Wave development, anyone with a good idea and the ability to make that idea work, has the opportunity to become very successful.
This idea that you can organize conversations around topics by creating "flows" and inviting people to collaborate on them, is truly going to change the way we do business on the internet. Once it catches on, just keeping track of the add-ons will be mind boggling.
Congratulations ZenBe Team on your Shareflow product. I love folks who are one step ahead of the game!
Sampada HegiJul 17th 2009 1:26PM
Another software platform very similar to Google Wave, and long time in the market is Colayer:
Sakaal Times on Colyer and Google Wave:
http://www.sakaaltimes.com/2009/06/26181221/Punebased-Colayer-develops-fu.html
Interview with Markus Hegi:
http://blog.internet-briefing.ch/2009/06/18/colayer-vs-google-wave-interview-mit-markus-hegi/
More links: http://colayer.com/PAGE_googlewave
markSep 2nd 2009 10:37AM
Forget the open source angle, I thought Wave was going to be an open protocol, a modern replacement for email. That being so, there is no Google tie-in per-se but they do benefit significantly from being first-mover.