Feature-by-Feature Comparison
Wave is more like a real-time, workgroup Wikipedia than Google Docs, email, or instant messenger. The following table compares common collaboration tools to Wave, feature by feature.
Feature Email Instant Messenger Google Docs Wikis Forums Wave
A single, hosted copy of a conversation or document
No
Not usually
Yes
Yes
Yes
Yes
The ability to see when contacts are online
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Instant messaging or chat, with no-refresh updates
No
Yes
Yes
No
No
Yes
Keystroke-by-keystroke live updates with multiple visible cursors
No
Some services
No
No
No
Yes
Simultaneous editing of one document by multiple collaborators
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
Edit rights to other participants' contributions
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes
The ability to compare revisions
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Interactive maps, videos, polls and other widgets
Not really
No
Some
Some
No
Yes
Inline replies and threaded conversations
Manually
No
No
No
Some
Yes
Ability to easily publish the conversation or document
No
No
Yes
Yes
No
Yes(to other Wave users)
User access permissions (read-only or edit)
N/A
N/A
Yes
Some
N/A
Not currently
Ability to easily link documents to each other
No
No
No
Yes
No
Yes
Ability to export the finished document to a file
No
No
Yes
Manually
No
No
As you can see, Wave offers a whole lot of features in one place. But how do you put Wave to good use in your workday?
