More on Google Buzz

As it turns out there was a  new story about both Google Wave and Google Buzz on the March 16 cnet news.  While both  Wave and Buzz are similar they each address slightly different audiences.

According to the story, Wave is supposed to be "designed around making users more productive in their work lives as a collaboration tool", in other words a work related tool.  Buzz is "more about social sharing and passive sharing with people who are interested in what you think." In other words a social networking tool.

Google apparently wants the general public to use both technologies for an unspecified time, and based on feed back Google would then decide which technology survives or if a merger of the two might occur.

The writers add that the major downside to this approach is that there might be a perception that Google is being indecisive and is guessing at which technology will really work the best. Ultimately any companies considering partnering with Google could become confused with which project Google is really committed to following through with.

My opinion is still why are two such similar products being released by one company so close together? Sure, it does appear confusing. But to me it also seems counter productive.  One company having two development teams working on similar projects sounds like a lot of duplicated effort, and not cost effective. I personally only adopt new technology if  I see a personal need for it.  If Google Buzz was released alone, but also offered work related productivity benefits, then sure, why not try it?  If it is really another social networking tool, then I don't think I am interested.  Linkedin is more to my liking, thanks.