Forum Moderators: Robert Charlton & goodroi
Continuing its rapid expansion into new product categories, the Internet search giant plans to launch an instant messaging program called Google Talk as early as Wednesday, according to people familiar with the service.
Full article on LA Times [latimes.com]
The concept of serving contextual ads based on the topic of the conversation is also quite intriguing.
This part is especially interesting to those following presence and VoIP markets:-
According to a person who has seen the service, Google plans to let users chat using more than just their keyboards. Like similar programs from competitors, Google Talk also will let computer users with a headset have voice conversations with other computer users with headsets, this person said.
It seems to me that Google are battling for desktop space here. The internet is getting ever closer to the desktop, and the dekstop is where you need your ads.
Cheers
Mick
[edited by: engine at 12:54 pm (utc) on Aug. 24, 2005]
[edit reason] No urls, thanks. See TOS [webmasterworld.com] [/edit]
Seem like you have to have a GMail account to use it, don't think that I'll bother based on previous comments about it being boring.
Mick
It's only boring if you use the web interface. The nice thing about GMail is you can use Outlook or any standard e-mail client to send and receive e-mail. No ads!
tradervic,
IMHO, I hope Google doesn't buy Trillian. Talk is using Jabber, an open source IM protocol. Hopefully Talk will force the other IM products to adopt Jabber and then finally it won't matter what IM client you use. You'll be able to connect to any Jabber server regardless of whether it's Google, MSN, Yahoo, AIM or whatever.
I've written up a more detailed review on my blog, but in summary, here are my thoughts about Google Talk ("GT"):
THUMBS UP:
- Light
- Fast to install, easy to use
- Excellent voice quality
- Nice optional integration into Google Desktop sidebar
- Handy GMail notifier built-in
THUMBS DOWN:
- Nothing new or exciting or revolutionary or "WOW"
- Takes up too much space vertically, especially with away messages being included directly below each name
- No way to send IM or voicemail when friend is away
Personally, I'll stick with Trillian for the time being. What a great app it is (and the Pro version is absolutely worth paying for, IMHO!)
small anticlimax :-(
hi jan :-)
Guys, if nobody's using your email service then it's because they don't want to. You should look at the reasons why they don't want to use it rather than forcing it down their throats as a prerequisite to play with your your new toy.
That was one of Skypes reasons for success.
TJ
Anyway, looks ncie but I think ill just port it into Trillian or something, hate having too many apps open at once...
But couldnt resist to comment this:
Google has done a fantastic job here and will be rewarded for it. Under 1 meg... Genius!
Ah, come on get real. This is a definete sign that things are going downhill for google. They lost my respect, their apps are horriblee, which make them more distant from their original idea. Web search.
Yahoo is beating them, and they make Google Talk. Be honest with me, if it wasnt google and some other "noname" company what would you say?
My question for the Guru's here on WW is...if AOL, Yahoo, and MSN engineers really don't want to "play nice"...why wouldn't they be capable of continuing to make a "cross platform /multi provider" interface from Google a VERY FRUSTRATING experience for the IM user?
15. What new features are you working on?We could tell you, but then you'd have to promise to not talk about it... Joking aside, Google Talk is still in beta, and we're working hard to add features and make improvements. We're just not quite ready yet to reveal the other cool things we've got planned. We can say this, though: we believe strongly in user choice and open standards, and we are committed to letting users access Google Talk using the client and platform of their choice, as well as to enabling our users to talk with users from other service providers.
We also want to keep making Google Talk better and we want your ideas and feedback to help make this happen! Talk to us using the Help link in the Google Talk interface. Let us know what you like, what you don't like, and what you'd really like.
16. Can you tell me more about Google Talk's commitment to open standards and user choice?
We believe that you should have a choice in how you communicate with your friends, that you shouldn't have to use one service because that's where you keep your contacts and other information. We launched free auto-forwarding and POP access for Gmail so our users could take their messages with them and use any service they want, and we're committed to upholding this idea of user choice for Google Talk as well. Today, with instant communications, you can't talk to your contacts or buddies in one service while using another service. We hope to change that. We want to work with other willing service providers to enable their users to communicate directly with Google Talk users. And while we hope many people will use and like the Google Talk client, we're committed to making it as easy as possible for you to communicate with your friends using the client that you want--even if it doesn't happen to be ours. That's why we're also supporting open standards and the same protocol that clients such as Trillian, GAIM and iChat do. For more details, please visit our FAQ for developers.
No problem traversing NAT and firewalls. Audio is excellent.
Truly a Skype-killer.
TJ
in my opinion this release is an embarassment. I've seen 1st year comp sci projects that are close to the same level of quality as this project.
good rules of thumb that i use before releasing anything are;
is there a need for the product?
is it the best thing out there?
to the first question id say not really, to the second question i would say definately not. When Gmail came out it gained respect because the quality of the app was quite better than msn or yahoo...this really isnt the case here
I imagine the application will eventually get up to google quality standards and be a wonderful chat tool, but imho the release was premature.
they could have atleast delayed the release 30 seconds and added in the ability to change my fonts! :o)
Now if the lot had gone right off the deep end with praise... I 'might' have taken a peak just to see what the fuss was about.
No fuss. No Must. No ride on the Google bus.
Has anyone tested it's ability to traverse firewalls and NAT devices yet?That was one of Skypes reasons for success.
TJ
Maybe the goal here is to offer 'flawless' talk that always works. Maybe they can do this because they own some of the networks.
Paul
Ah, come on get real. This is a definete sign that things are going downhill for google. They lost my respect, their apps are horriblee, which make them more distant from their original idea. Web search.
Come off it. It's a very simple application, there's nothing wrong with it, and it looks like it'll be more useful for communicating with outside networks sometime soon.
Sorry if that has been covered - rushing off so have not read all 6 pages yet
I guess they have to invest money outside of pure search, but not sure this is going to create money that quickly....?
Stupid sandbox, zero support response....grrrr
....
crystal clear conversations from UK > China
even Skype quality was worse
Shak
