WebProNews

When Google Wave was first released, it impressed a lot of people from a technical standpoint.  The trouble was, no one could figure out a practical use for it.  Now, Novell has decided to take a shot, announcing a service known as Pulse.

Novell explained on its website, "With Novell Pulse, people continents apart can work together in real-time, sharing and co-browsing information or creating or editing a document.  Individuals can also manage content overload by choosing people and topics to follow and stashing files - both native and office type - along with their related groups and conversations."

Then here's the Google-y part (although anyone who paid attention will note that Pulse already sounds a lot like Mountain View's AIM-on-steroids offering): Pulse "will also work seamlessly with Google Wave so you and anyone you want to work with can . . . get down to business."

As for availability, there's good news and bad news.  The bad: Pulse isn't supposed to launch until 2010, so it'll be a while before anyone can evaluate it.  The good: everyone should be able to evaluate it, because Novell has promised that there'll be a free version.

A lot is riding on Pulse because, as Zee M Kane observed, Novell's the first major corporation to embrace Google Wave.  What happens here could help determine if it catches on.

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