ThoughtfulChaos

I am a regular reader of many technical blogs, sites and forums. However the launch of Google Talk came as a big surprise to me. Sure there was some buzz about it in many of the forums but I seem to have missed most of it (maybe I should review the list of sites I subscribe to). The launch of their own IM service was nothing short of a shock for me.

Any new service launched by Google is big news. They have a knack of doing things differently and one thing that all people expect from Google is innovation. They are more friendly, both towards end users as well as developers.

Google search was a revolution in search. Its USP being relevant results through the PageRank mechanism and not pages and pages of useless results that other search engines served. Gmail is much better than many of the other free web-based email services. Loads of storage space, a nice UI and cool features such labels and conversations being its hallmarks. There are the only 2 Google services I use extensively but I am sure the others (Answers, Groups, Image search, Maps, Scholar etc.) are also nice.

Google is also quite developer friendly. They expose many of the services through the Google Web APIs program. I have never used these APIs myself but lot of people have done some cool stuff with it. For e.g. Chicago Crime and Montage-a-Google. One Google service I do use is the Google sitemaps service that allows "you to communicate directly with Google to keep us informed of all your web pages, and when you make changes to these pages".

What about Google Talk? Most of the reviews have been positive (another positive review) and some negative. Search Engine Watch also has a nice comparision chart in their review of Google Talk.

Most people are praising it for having all the expected basic capabilities, VoIP, integration with Gmail and a simple clean lightweight ads-free interface. Whoa! Did I just say 'expected basic capabilities'? Haven't we well become accoustomed to expecting something out of the ordinary from Google? Maybe they are just in the initial stages and will roll out new features gradually. It is always nice to have a significant userbase for testing and feedback.

I did not expect that it would be free of ads. What is the catch? Google uses its own very successful Google AdSense program to serve ads in search results, Gmail etc. That is 1 of the ways it makes money. But in this case they say no ads will be served. As 1 article noted Google Talk might be way to drive more users towards its Gmail email service. Users nowadays have come to expect interoperability. 'Integration' is the keyword. They want 1 place, 1 provider where they can do everything.

I have not tried out Google Talk yet. Actually cannot use chat from office since it is banned (by policy _and_ by the proxy server). So I am going to go to a cybercafe and check out whether it is truly worth the hype or not. Expect an update in a few days...

Here are some interesting snippets from the Google Talk about/FAQ page:

Why should I use Google Talk?
<snip...>
Google Talk is simple and intuitive to use. There's no clutter, no pop-ups, no unnecessary software to install. And we think you'll like the Google Talk voice quality. In fact, we think you'll like it a lot; it's like your friend is sitting right next to you (and your voice will sound a lot better than it does on answering machines).

How does Google Talk work with Gmail?
To use Google Talk, you must sign in with your Gmail username and password. Your Gmail contacts are pre-loaded and the people you communicate with most often will show up in your Google Talk Friends list. You can go to your Gmail Inbox from the Google Talk interface, and you can even email your contacts directly using your Gmail account. Google Talk also does everything the Gmail Notifier used to do, and can show notifications for new messages in your Gmail account, as well as for incoming calls or chats.

What system requirements do I need to use Google Talk?
<snip...>
Google Talk also supports standards-based communication clients, which means that Gmail users can access the Google Talk service and exchange instant messages using other clients that support the standard XMPP protocol, such as Trillian, GAIM, iChat, Adium, and Psi. This allows users to access the Google Talk service for instant messaging from all major platforms, including OSX, Linux, and Windows.

Do I see ads when I use Google Talk?
We aren't showing any ads on Google Talk. There are no pop-ups or clutter—just a clean and simple interface to make it easy for you to communicate instantly with your friends.

Can you tell me more about Google Talk and privacy?
<snip...>
Google Talk currently does not encrypt chats or calls. But we are working hard to make many improvements to Google Talk while it is in beta, and we plan to fully support encryption of chats and calls before our official release.
<snip...>
Google does not collect the content of instant message chats or voice conversations. As with all major IM services, Google Talk will collect certain log information created in the course of a conversation. This information is for Google'sinternal use only, to maintain statistics on usage and to improve our service and the user experience. We do not permanently store any personally-identifying information in the Google Talk logs. And we do not log any of the content of your chats or calls.
<snip...>

What new features are you working on?
<snip...>
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.
<snip...>

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.

P.S. Even as I am writing this news comes in that Gmail registration is open to U.S. users and no longer invite only and a new feature "Send as"