As I understand it Wave core principle is actually simple. When you do email, the fundamental unit of communication is the email. In Wave, the fundamental unit of communication is the conversation.
Unlike physical mail, most emails don't stand alone. They are part of a conversation. Conversations can get quite complicated. In mailing lists, they often get very long, effectively taking the shape of an HN thread.
Now, plain email is a mish-mash of message/IM/docs. We already use it these ways. Wave, by being very permissive, make these tasks easier. Single messages aren't harder, ML-like conversations have an enforced structure (easier to follow), and the collaborative editing thing just emerge from the possibility of modifying the entire conversation.
I see Wave like I see Lisp: a simple and consistent core, which allow many possibilities.
Unlike physical mail, most emails don't stand alone. They are part of a conversation. Conversations can get quite complicated. In mailing lists, they often get very long, effectively taking the shape of an HN thread.
Now, plain email is a mish-mash of message/IM/docs. We already use it these ways. Wave, by being very permissive, make these tasks easier. Single messages aren't harder, ML-like conversations have an enforced structure (easier to follow), and the collaborative editing thing just emerge from the possibility of modifying the entire conversation.
I see Wave like I see Lisp: a simple and consistent core, which allow many possibilities.