Google's new instant messenger, Google Talk, is clean, exceptionally
lightweight, free of feature glut, and simple to use. (Congratulations to our Download Squad blog which published the
first review.) The program download is
exceptionally quick, and installation is as transparent and effortless as they come. Google Talk is fairly focused on
Gmail, although you don't need a Gmail account to use it. Apparently you do need a Gmail account to use
Google Talk, according to the download page, which went live after
this review was first posted. The requirement is "a Gmail username and password." Of course, a Gmail username/password
combination can be the same as the username/password used to access other Google services like Answers, Groups, and
personalized search. It's a bit peculiar that Google would require an account in a closed, invitation-only service,
notwithstanding how easy it has become to get an invitation. Still, Google sometimes rolls out their products
slowly.
(SEW describes a workaround to the Gmail problem.)
If you do have Gmail, you'll see Google Talk display a summary of unread messages in your Inbox when you first open
the chat program, and it will continue notifying you as emails come in. Clicking the Inbox link opens Gmail. When
chatting, clicking an Email button opens Gmail to a Compose screen addressed to your chat partner. You can add chat
friends directly from the Gmail contacts list, and, in fact, you can add you entire Gmail contacts list with one click.
(Thankfully, you are not inviting everyone on your contact list to be a Google Talk friend when you perform that
one-click addition. You are merely listing them in Google Talk, ready to be invited one by one.)
Adding chat friends is a two-click operation. You can assign a tagline to your name, as in other programs. when
chatting, limited rich text is available via ASCII symbology; *asterisks* deliver bold, and _underscored_ words become
italicized. Typed links are live.
Missing are the many encumbrances that bog down the competing IM experiences; Google's debut entry in this field is
characteristically breezy and uncluttered. There is no splash panel with news; no stock tabs or online radio. There is
no … [ahem] ... search box. There is voice chatting, and Google has indicated to us that group audio
conferences and audio recording are on the radar.
Sometimes simplicity is ineffectual, as was the first iteration of Google's personalized home page. Not so here.
Google Talk hits a sweet spot of instant usability, with just the right features for now and plenty of room to evolve.
But that evolution should happen sooner than later. The lack of group chatting will turn people away, and the fact that
(according to SEW) Google Desktop does not
index Google Talk chats—and there is no immediate plan to add that feature to Desktop—is inexplicable and
offputting.
1. can't wait till they open the API like with maps.
google needs to be interoperable, and compatible with services allready WIDELY used, (aim, yahoo, flickr, myspace, something that takes advantage of every community and can converge them all...
Posted at 4:42AM on Dec 19th 2005 by norebonomis@gmail.com