Full-text blog feedGoogle Talk Slightly Disappointing
If you didn't already know, Google has released their own instant messanging client, called Google Talk. However, I'm a little disappointed. I thought Google, in their usual spirit, would completely leave the competition in the dirt.
Sure, the client is nice and simple, and has a good-looking interface. It also has Skype-style VoIP. But there are a few things it lacks in my eyes:
- Compatibility with the other major IM protocols. (MSN, AOL, Yahoo, etc.) If they added this, I would probably switch to Google Talk from Gaim, my current IM program. And I don't think Google can expect any serious success with Google Talk until they add this.
- That little extra something, that we've grown used to with Google's various services. Something that really makes it worth the switch. That (r)evolutionary feature that just makes it so much nicer to use than the competing alternatives. (I'm thinking 2.5 GB free webmail storage, saved searches, class-leading desktop search, revolutionary advertising program, etc.)
Sure, there are also things that already make it look very good:
- No ads.
- Clean look. (A googley look!)
Hopefully we'll see an improved version out soon!
Update: According to this developers FAQ page, Google are hoping to add compatibility with other clients. However, if they succeed in persuading Microsoft to let them add MSN remains to be seen. Sounds unlikely to me.
2 Comment(s):
At 7:12 AM,
jer said…
Initially I was pretty stoked to see they were using Jabber as the backend, and that you didn't even need to use the fancy client at all, any Jabber cllient will do. I suddenly had visions of people starting to use Jabber without even realizing they were getting the benefits of the best every protocol.
Then I discovered that while google IS using jabber, they have broken one of the most important parts of the protocol, making it so that Google Talk users can only talk to other Google Talk users. The beauty of Jabber is anyone can run a Jabber server, and users on any server can talk to any other users on any other server. But not Google.
If you are an existing Jabber user and want to talk to Google users you have to log in to yet ANOTHER IM protocol. Lame.
Hopefully this issue will be fixed soon.
At 10:01 AM,
David Naylor said…
Yeah. Having one login to access all your contacts would be the ideal. That's something Google could do in order to make the best IM client around.
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