From The Complete Guide to Google Wave: How to Use Google Wave
The Wave preview is pre-beta software, with lots of missing functionality. This appendix is a quick list of what you can't do yet in Wave.
Currently, in the Wave preview you cannot:
- Disable real-time, keystroke-by-keystroke live-typing in draft waves, then post them to the hosted conversation by clicking Done (this feature is forthcoming)
- Set a wave to reply-only access. (Read-only now available!)
- Copy gadgets; the menu item is disabled in the date drop-down menu, a likely indicator this is forthcoming
- Cut blips into other waves (Wave surgery). Google has said that this is coming
- Hide or expand all inline blips; the menu item is disabled in the date drop-down, a likely indicator this is forthcoming
- Diff revisions that aren't sequential in playback
- Set your status to invisible or away (if you're online you've got the green dot whether you like it or not)
- Merge waves or blips
- Organize your contacts into groups
- Rearrange blips' vertical order
- Prevent someone you added as a participant form making the wave public, and thus exposing a potentially private conversation.
- Upload files (it should come eventually since there is a menu for it at the bottom of waves).
- Delete a private reply from within a wave
Some of the current problems with Google Wave Preview include:
- It's overwhelmingly slow for large waves and in some browsers (such as FireFox and IE).
- Sometimes large Waves stop working after they get too big.
