Google Wave

記者蘇湘雲／綜合報導

不讓當紅社群網站Facebook、Plurk、Twitter等專美於前，Google宣布，即日起也將公開測試集即時通、電子郵件、文件處理、開放式編輯與社群網路等多功能於一身的Google Wave，將有已登錄的10萬人參與這一股「波浪」。

Google 在今年5月的Google I/O會議上宣布這項計畫，被市場視為是最有希望的創新產品之一。即日起進入下一階段，依照既定計畫發出邀請給10萬多名研發人員、個人測試者與經過挑選 的Google Apps企業用戶，大規模試用Google Wave，接受更徹底的擴充性與穩定性測試。

Google官方部落格也宣布，正在研究設立能夠賺錢的Wave商店可能性，讓產品開發商販賣Wave週邊應用軟體。Google Wave正式版時程仍未公佈，依照Google計畫，明年將讓所有Google Apps用戶都能使用這套新軟體。

官方指出，Google Wave的目標是重新設計網路通訊，把電子郵件、即時通訊、社群網路和職場協作軟體的要素整合成單一網路應用；就目前而言，Google Wave還不穩定，但是幾個月下來，目前的Google Wave已比先前的「開發者預覽版」好多了。

在現在的Google Wave版本中，使用者仍無法移除Wave或群組中的使用者，也還沒有支援草稿模式，也無使用者權限配置功能，Google說，在未來幾個月會完成這些功能的支援。

而受到注意的新功能則包括，有一個用來檢查語意錯誤的機器人，另外主管也能透過iPhone檢視團隊開發成果，也有提供氣象預報的AccuWeather、管理電話會議的Ribbi以及可計畫旅行的Lonely Planet。

Kai-Fu Lee to Quit

Google Executive to Quit

By JESSICA E. VASCELLARO

Google Inc. announced that Kai-Fu Lee, president of Google Inc.'s China operations, is resigning from the company after working to establish the Internet giant as a formidable player in the country.

Mr. Lee will be succeeded by two Google executives, the company said. Boon-Lock Yeo, currently director of Google's Shanghai engineering office, will run engineering for Google China. John Liu, who currently leads Google's sales team in greater China, will assume Mr. Lee's business and operational responsibilities.

Mr. Lee left Microsoft Corp. to join Google in 2005 to develop the company's operations in China, where Google was later than some of its rivals to establish a beachhead.

Mr. Lee's hiring kicked off a legal battle between Microsoft and Google. Microsoft, alleging Mr. Lee violated his employment contract, filed suit against Google. Google countersued, accusing Microsoft of "a shocking display of hubris," according to court documents. The companies settled privately in 2005.

Google said Mr. Lee is leaving to work on his own venture. "With a very strong leadership team in place, it seemed a very good moment for me to move to the next chapter in my career," Mr. Lee said in a statement.

During Mr. Lee's tenure, usage of Google products, including its search service, has grown among Chinese users. The company has also launched some products unique to the market, including an online music service. In announcing Mr. Lee's departure, Google said it was nearly doubling the size of its sales force in China in response to strong growth.

But Google continues to confront a range of headaches in China, which, as the country with the largest number of Internet users, is critical to its growth. Google still trails Chinese search leader Baidu by a wide margin. In the second quarter of 2009, Google drew around 20% of Chinese Internet searches, compared with Baidu's 76%, according to iResearch, an Internet research concern

Google has also continued to clash with Chinese authorities, who have selectively blocked services such as its video-sharing site, YouTube.