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Yesterday Google invited 100,000 users to beta test its new online communications tool, Google Wave.

This new service, described by Google as a “comprehensive online communication and collaboration tool” and “how e-mail would look if it were invented today” looks set to rival e-mail competitors and social networks such as Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.

Google hopes that this modern and dynamic communications tool will provide a better platform for online communication by allowing groups of people to collaborate on a series of tasks at one time by combining e-mail, social networking and instant messaging (IM) all in one program.

The search giant hopes their new tool will transform the way people communicate online. It struck us that e-mail is still the main communication tool on the web, which seemed remarkable given that it is 20-year-old technology," said Lars Rasmussen, engineering manager at Google and creator of Google Maps “and that’s what Google Wave is - email for the 21st century.”

It was originally opened to 100,000 users at 1600BST on the 30th September, but each of these users can send out invites to a further 5 people - so they can “join the wave”.

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