Last year Google launched a service that had lots of people excited to try it, called Google Wave. Users everywhere were very eager to get their hands on an invite to the service, since the service was invitation only at the time it launched.
Once the service quickly spread around, users were dumbfounded by what Google Wave actually does. Even though the service had real-time character-by-character typing, drag-n-drop file sharing and webcam support, Google announced it will be killing Google Wave, as the adoption rate Google had hoped for was not there.
Google was recently seeking a new use for Google Wave, trying to get the healthcare industry to use its services, however, that now seems to not be the case, as the company has announced it will discontinuing its services.
Google said it will be keeping Google Wave on life-support until the end of the year. Central parts of the websites code, including the character-by-character and drag-and-drop will be available as open source.