Google Wave? What’s it for?

I love Google.  Fact.  Whatever mind-bending drug they transmit that makes them and their products addictive, then, yep, I’m hooked.

I use Google Apps for Domains to host and manage my mail and, well, everything.

But.  I don’t ‘get’ Google Wave.

I mean, I do ‘get’ and excessively use the brilliant suite of Google Docs which are by far the greatest collaborative tool ever, but Google Wave?

When would I use or need Google Wave?

Google Wave just seems to be a less intuitive almost cut-down version of the Google Docs package.  Maybe I’m missing the bigger picture or the finer point.  Am I?

One of the most important things about Google Documents is that the entire history is there to drop back to, and you get an idea of who edited what.  Any drop-back history on Google Wave? Nope.  Whole items can be removed and you can’t drop back to them.

And what are those items exactly?  Well, you can write things or include pictures.  Erm, like inside Google Documents.  You can add ‘apps’ that will allow you to poll people and see if they will attend an event.  Well, wouldn’t you normally be using the wonderful life-sorting Google Calendar for that?

Ah, yes, you can play Sudoku on Google Wave.  Erm?

So, generally and genuinely I don’t see where this much hyped Google Wave fits into life.  What am I missing?

(If you have a Wave that would help me understand, then please feel free to add christopherenglanduk@googlewave.com to it right now so that I can have a great big “Ahaaaaa!” moment.)