We first heard about Google's Wave platform during 2008's I/O Developer Conference, and now four months later, the search giant appears ready to roll out Wae to 100,000 consumer and business users, giving the collaboration platform its first real test.

If you have an hour and a half to kill, you can view a lengthy video describing Wave in detail here. Or if you're more of the Cliff Notes type, Wave is essentially an open source protocol, which lets users communicate via IM, share documents and videos, and collaborate and edit content in real-time.

"Because Google Wave requires people to think about working differently, it's not clear yet what the sweet spot will be," said Ted Schadler, an analyst with Forrester Research. "However, you can bet that vendors and CTOs will be watching this with interest to see what develops."

Anyone who joins a Wave can message anyone else on the same Wave, as well as edit each other's work. But while Google is providing the platform, it will be up to businesses and developers to implement Wave in a worthwhile way.

Image Credit: Google