Google Talk

Mr Bacon · Post by **Mr Bacon** » August 25, 2005, 1:17 am

There were rumors (mainly on slashdot) about a google instant message client.. but it's now true.

http://talk.google.com

The client is jabber compatible, so you don't even need to use google's client (it works with gaim, ichat, trillian, etc etc). Seems like a good program - easy to use and very simplistic. You can also make telephone calls over the web for free with just a microphone.

It requires a gmail account to sign up - but 99% of the people that want one have one so that shouldn't be an issue. Anyone who needs an invite can email me and provide me with an email address of their own. You can also hit the gmail website and sign up using your cell phone (for anti-spam reasoning).

Hopefully this is the program that kills AIM - I've grown tired of that piece of crap (go trillian).

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 25, 2005, 1:41 am

I saw this but it seems too simplistic. I'd be nice if it had an easy way to share images and files...unless it can do that and it's not detailed on the getting started page.

I guess it's pretty good if you just want text or voice chat.

Mr Bacon · Post by **Mr Bacon** » August 25, 2005, 2:11 am

Winnow wrote:I saw this but it seems too simplistic. I'd be nice if it had an easy way to share images and files...unless it can do that and it's not detailed on the getting started page.

I guess it's pretty good if you just want text or voice chat.

Right - it's really only in beta at this point, so it's lacking those features, and google has made that clear. In the FAQ/Help they have mentioned that they have lots of ideas and features they will be implementing soon, so sit back and wait for the magic to happen.

I don't expect this program to flourish just yet, but maybe the newcomers to instant messaging will go straight to it instead of aim. Also, I would expect that older (age-wise) web users would lean more towards google than AOL.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » August 25, 2005, 1:22 pm

Yahoo! IM > *

(Trillian not being an actual IM, just an emulator of IMs)

Zeep · Post by **Zeep** » August 25, 2005, 2:23 pm

I predict this does not do well.

It's going to be hard to dethone or even compete with the big 3 (Yahoo, MSN, AOL) when they already have all the features you want, all your friends are already on them, and the 3rd party clients work just fine with them (Trillian rocks...) There's just no reason to switch, and then go convince everybody you know to switch. Google is not doing anything new or cool here that I can see, just a rehash of stuff that's already available (unlike their web and desktop search stuff, which is somewhat innovative and cool.)

Google needs to give me a good reason (and it has to be really good, way better than re-badged Jabber shit) to switch, and convice all my friends to switch, and then we'll talk.

Plus google is starting to piss me off. Stop trying to take over the world. Just give me my search engine and STFU.

Zeep

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 25, 2005, 2:52 pm

Zeep's an angry young gnome today!

I had similar thoughts though. Googletalk does nothing interesting. There are several established IMs more advanced and all of their advertising and extra crap can already be avoided by using Trillion.

I'm not switching IMs unless Zeep switches!

Marbus · Post by **Marbus** » August 25, 2005, 4:55 pm

Personally I'm trying it out... yea all the others have tons of features but I guess I just like to play with new things, heh.

Marb

Kelshara · Post by **Kelshara** » August 25, 2005, 7:51 pm

I'm on it and really like it. Nice and simple interface without all the bloated crap most others have. Works like a charm!

Sionistic · Post by **Sionistic** » August 25, 2005, 7:55 pm

How about google auto searches what you are talking about and posts links in a box below the convo

valryte · Post by **valryte** » August 25, 2005, 8:44 pm

valryte> Hey Sionistic, man I got to tell you about this gay ass turd

Google> Here's some links you might be interested in
http://www.veeshanvault.org/forums/prof ... file&u=215

JK

noel · Post by **noel** » October 12, 2005, 9:41 am

I agree with most of the comments here so far. I think it does nothing new, and really isn't that impressive.

That said, it's a beta and I plan to use it and watch the evolution. Google has a history of releasing a product and incrementally improving it until it does compete with what's already out there. Anyone that's used Gmail since the early beta can attest to that.

I personally hate AIM and Yahoo (yahoo especially since it has to install 1 million add ons). I use MSN because that's where 90% of my friends/family are, but I think it's become a bloated piece of software. I use Skype to make phone calls/conference calls.

The things that will ensure google talk is installed is the integration with Gmail, and the hope that I'll be able to replace skype someday.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » October 12, 2005, 12:03 pm

I still use yahoo, and I haven't installed any of the addons. It runs fine with no problems for me. I also use MSN messenger occasionally, but I find yahoo more functional for me.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » October 12, 2005, 12:49 pm

Trillian is still the way to go.

It keeps bloat to a minimum while combining all the major IMs (Yahoo, IRC, MSN, AIM, ICQ, something else, and optional plugins for more) in one place. It's easy to use for IRC channels as well.

Back when I was playing EQ on a regular basis, I even had the EQIM chat plugin for Trillian (need Trillian Pro for that) which was stable and had more functionality than the buggy official EQIM.

Try it:

http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/