Granted - but I would say the default Wave client already solves a whole host of problems. Remember, Wave is composed of the protocol, the server, and the client as well. If the Google Wave client as it is now is used as a starting point for future Wave clients, then they will all benefit from these features. Conversely, clients that don't solve the problems that Google's reference client solves are effectively inferior.

I think you're mixing up wave.

Wave _is_ an actual application, not a protocol. It uses several protocols to get its job done, but it _is_ an application.

And the wave code is already public: http://code.google.com/apis/wave/

Sure it's an application, not a protocol.

However, I still think that it's not the current application that will deliver most of the Wave's value. Just like it's not the Twitter website that delivers most of the value of Twitter, but the ecosystem of the clients using its API.

Think light wave - sometimes it's an application and sometimes it's a protocol.

da-dish

Protocol Specs http://www.waveprotocol.org/