Google Wave

Google announced Wave on May 28, 2009. Invitations were so scarce they sold on auction sites. People fought to get in, got in, and found a product later criticized for trying to merge "all forms of communication in a single, crowded space." Nobody could explain what it was for, including Google. It opened to the general public on May 19, 2010. Seventy-seven days later Google suspended development for lack of interest. It was named after Firefly, a TV show that was also cancelled early. Its crash screen read "Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!" It was the most honest thing in the product.