Slashdot Mirror
Could IM Be The Next Step For Google?
Rob_Warwick writes "Silicon.com has released an article theorizing that Google might be thinking about releasing an Instant Message client. Between a google_im:// protocol embedded in the Google Desktop Search, and their acquisition of Picasa and their IM client this summer, it almost sounds possible."
And if you are worried about security, Google claims that it's more secure than AOL Instant Messenger," said Nathan Weinberg, who runs the InsideGoogle blog.
You mean it's more secure than sending and receiving plaintext + HTML? Wow. I'm impressed. Personally I think everyone should be proxying their AIM sessions over encrypted tunnels (especially if you are on a college campus) but I'd be more worried about Google archiving and learning my chat preferences. Soon I'd be getting "spam" to my GMail account based on my most frequently used words.
Personally, I don't want to log and search my AIM conversations. Most of that is quick chat or non-sense. I see where in corporate environments it would be useful but for MY home use I just don't see the need. YMMV.
Right after they release their web browser.
I would love to see a google solution. Google could take over the world for all I care right now. They keep kicking out quality products, and I keep on eating them up. kudos, GOOG.
Google has also recently added a gmail email notification client that sits in the tray and notifies you when new gmail messages are received. Quoting from their description of the program:
"The Gmail Notifier is a downloadable Windows application that alerts you when you have new Gmail messages. It displays an icon in your system tray to let you know if you have unread Gmail messages, and shows you their subjects, senders and snippets, all without your having to open a web browser."
Sure sounds like a potential IM client.
"We make our world significant by the courage of our questions and by the depth of our answers." Carl Sagan
Like targetted ads towards your conversation? Woo!
:/ one look at the duct tape around my glasses and she ran out screaming.
<friend> hey, got rejected again last night, eh?
<you> yeah.
Google Ad: Russian Brides~
Okay, where do I sign up?
"An infinite number of monkeys typing into GNU emacs would never make a good program."
Try using GAIM. It's a chat client that allows you to use a variety of protocols, including AIM. No ads, no bloat, and if you have multiple messenger services, it can cut the number of extraneous icons in your taskbar. Only drawback IMO is the lack of video and sound options and the occasional interruption of service when one of the messenger services decides to get clever with their protocol. However, Gaim tends to catch up within about 24 hours on the latter case.
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
With Google branching into so many fields, one day you'll drive your Google to the Goggle to buy some Goggle to eat while you watch Google on your Google.
I'm serious. Please do not mod funny.
'The staff in the hand of a wizard may be more than a prop for age,' -Hamá, the doorward
Between a google_im:// protocol embedded in the Google Desktop Search, and their acquisition of Picasa and their IM client this summer, it almost sounds possible.
:-)
:-/
How about -- soon to be a reality?
Hmmm... I hope they'll go for Jabber. IMHO, the world doesn't need yet another IM protocol. Actually, I don't think we need yet another IM client either, but that's just me. Who knows what innovative features Google might come up with. I have a hard time imagining the next generation for IM clients myself. Any ideas?
Hmm, maybe a shared virtual storage among a group of invited IM buddies. Have no idea if someone already did this though. And I think they'd need to stay free even while coughing up with the hard drives to accomplish this if they'd want any kind of user base. Hmm...
Beware: In C++, your friends can see your privates!
So does that make the protocol it uses the GIMP?
I can't possibly imagie them trying to take over a large portion of the IM market. It's already quite crowded as it is (AIM, MSN, Y!, ICQ, Jabber, etc.)
What I can see them doing is making a universal IM client with the addition of a GIM protocol or maybe GIM-only features that might sit on top of other clients (who knows?).
Although it is also interesting that Google has implemented AIM log searching into thier desktop search, it doesn't mean they'll be extending this to a GIM service; that also is to say that just because the desktop search looks through IE history, doesn't neccessarily mean they'll be make a GBrowser.
Seems like Google are moving away from static browse-only-when-you-want-to information provision to dynamic, in-your-face services. Just some examples: email, alerts (like this third party) and SMS. In all cases, Google are getting a more dynamic relationship with their customers - giving more and (as they no doubt hope) advertising more in return.
Between software, browsers, and now IM clients, sometimes I wonder if the Slashdot editors actually believe that Google will make these peices of software, or if they're just trying to bait Google into registering a bunch of un-needed domains.
0110100100100000011000010110110100100000011000100
IM, how original... but I guess they can add their own twist to it.
Google's reputation was built from their search engine. Not exactly an original idea, but they did it better than anybody else. Gmail, web-based mail... Not very original either, but they've done something with it that nobody else has. So isn't it feasible that they could revolutionize IM the same way?
With all of the great ideas that come out of Google, I believe they can do anything.
So now my wife can search my IM records to find conversations with my girlfr...oh wait, this is slashdot. Yay google!
From what google is today , I would like to throw your collective memories back into the early eighties.
... at least this time , make sure we don't end up with *another* monopoly on the internet.
..
I was a toddler with drool down my face... but I've done my homework . Remember when Microsoft was the underdog fighting the "Not Invented Here" IBM's stranglehold on the computer industry (I don't see any DEC clones here).
We're back to another underdog fighting a monopoly
For a company whose motto is "do no evil", this move doesn't fit into the picture. But for a potential juggernaut ready to steamroll the Redmond Giant, this looks like the IDEAL move. Makes perfect business sense too - but google was never about Money - or that's the submlinal message that makes the geek community google fans.
Be afraid, be very very afraid
Quidquid latine dictum sit, altum videtur
first off, i'm a huge Google fan and user, and have been for years, before it was even popular...but...
just to play devil's advocate...at what point do you start making monopolistic comparisons between Google and Microsoft...they already have the largest market share in Web Searches...they've brnached out into e-mail and now desktop searches...they are probably gonna move in on instant messaging and likely the browser wars...and yet, absolutley no criticism what-so-ever about how they could possibly become some sort of internet monopoly...are they justing benefiting from the fact that (thus far) their products are free?...or is everyone just happy that the aren't microsoft...?
"Facts are meaningless. You could use facts to prove anything that's even remotely true." - Homer Simpson
http://it.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=125644&thre shold=1&commentsort=0&tid=217&mode=thread&cid=1052 4952
did we indeed create a monster? Look at the evelolution
/. is concerned) as microsoft? I mean, do you really welcome your new Goverlords?
-search engine
-search engine/mail service
-search engine/mail service/file searching system
-search engine/mail service/file searching system/possible OS/IM Client
Granted that yes this is the same route yahoo took (only yahoo doesn't have a file searching system and possible OS on it's development list), but google seems to be taking this to the next level. If google continues to grow and adds more Gfunctions to their already large collection, will it eventually become as large and distrusted (possibly even hated as far as
I could just be overreacting.
as long as they play nice and get past the legal hurdles; interoperability is key.
no, not like trillian.
--- widget evolution: enhanced, plus, super, ultra, extreme, exxxtreme, ultra-extreme,
gim.com
gchat.com
gmessage.com
gtalk.com
All *not* registered by google (unless they're doing some sort of proxy registration to hide their name.) I'll be watching gbrowser.com anyway which *is* owned by them.
Its stores it on your computer. Google Desktop doesn't actually interact over the Internet with Google, unless you have it search your gmail account, which I think is an option.
yeah. :/ one look at the duct tape around my glasses and she ran out screaming.
s/around my glasses/and chloroform/g
that would fucking suck.
1. No feedback on message delivery.
2. Bandwidth overhead introduced by error correction/checking (UDP is the wrong protocol)
3. Central server still needed to record IP addresses to pass to clients.
4. Massive bandwidth outlay on connection. (Modem user has to send buddy image to all 100 buddies online).
5. It wouldnt work throught a NAT firewall.
6. You wouldnt know if you had become disconnected.
7. You couldnt log on from any machine (ala msn, icq), because no central server to give you your contacts list.
In short i think your idea sucks in SO many ways. It would be suck a step back. Serverless UDP is not a scaleable communications system. It sucks for P2P and would for IM too.
If you want to consider more intelligent message delivery system, consider networks like OpenFastTrack.
Dom.
use Blunt::Instrument;
Well, there may be hacks.. but for a TECH company with BILLIONS in the bank - why - oh why - is there no forward momentum, develop and thinking in regards to capitalizing on the linux market?
Sure the protocol will probable be hacked into gaim or kopete, but thats not enough.
The web is supposed to be platform independant - introduce cross platform tools google! Please!!!
I would be really happy if a big company as Google would establish a standardized IM. By "standardized" I mean that they should use an open and well documented protocol, such as XMPP (aka "Jabber", see RFC 3920-3923).
You can find the index here: \Documents and Settings\userid\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Google Desktop Search
In my case, GDS found 134,576 items it deemed worthy of indexing; the index consumes 1.58GB of disk space.
Yes, it's true. This man has no dick.
Everything Google has done so far has been things where the level of consumer lock-in has been relatively low. Search and news services, all that it takes to switch products is to go to a different URL. Email requires a bit more work to change but people do change their email address from time to time. Googlebar and the hard drive search, well, all that takes is installing a little program.
IM though is drastically different because you don't use IM to communicate, you use IM to communicate with people you already know. Does anyone really think AIM is the best IM client? I doubt it, but AIM is what is popular because AIM lets you talk to the people you already know. The degree of lock-in for IM is immense. So launching a new IM client wouldn't seem to make a whole lot of sense. People have been making IM clients for years and years now and "alternative" IM clients have never generally seemed to get anywhere unless, like, Trillian, they can support a lot of different IM networks in one app; doing this is a lot of thankless work for not much payback. Unless you're Microsoft and you have to own everything, exactly what does "wow, people are using an IM app with my logo on it instead of an IM app with those other people's logo on it" gain you?
Maybe it would make sense if gmail added some YG-like or IM-like (or both) features between people with gmail accounts. Maybe it would make sense if gmail added some kind of small proxy so that people logged in to gmail could send and receive messages from AIM. But I think some of these googlewatchers just periodically attribute every possible software product under the sun to being part of Google's plans. So far we've had Google planning to make an operating system, a browser, and I've even heard the IM client rumor before. So far Google's new products have consistently been a bit more subtle and surprising than that.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Gmail integration is not an option, but a highly requested feature.
Yes, it's true. This man has no dick.
I discovered something interesting about Gmail.
I filled out a customer feedback form for a major car manufacturer, and gave my Gmail address as a reply destination.
While clicking the submit button, I noticed that I forgot to put the "." between my first and last name, my address being Firstname.Lastname@gmail.com.
I thought oh well, they're probably not going to reply to me anyway.
The next day I was surprised to see a reply by them in my Gmail inbox!
Makes me wonder how many typos Gmail can tolerate and still forward you the email...
And saw this part at the end:
A Google representative said the protocol flagged by Smith does not hint at a pending Google IM product; rather, it is merely a component used to capture IM data from AOL Instant Messenger and make it searchable on the desktop.
Irritable, left-wing and possibly humorous bumper stickers and t-shirts
Honestly every week we hear another thing that Google is going to do.
Wouldn't it be much easier and more cost effective if they would just announce "hey gmail users, now your id & pwd work on our Jabber IM server!" It would instantly become the most popular Jabber server on the net, and the only effort would be in creating a cluster resilient enough to handle the onslaught, something they seem to be "pretty good" at. Wasn't that one of the original design goals of Jabber? So people could reuse their email addresses as IM uids, and service providers can host their own IM servers?
Finally, for everyone pushing Gaim, don't forget to mention Gaim-encryption to go along with it. It staples SSL and its own key management over top of any protocol Gaim supports. No SSL proxies or shyte like that. The chats are encrypted the entire path, client-to-client.
Intelligent Life on Earth
"If Google does release an IM, I suspect that it's not an end in itself. There would be no financial or tactical reason to release an IM."
Well, let's take a quick look as good ol' Microsoft. Last I heard, the only profitable products they produce are Windows and Office. So what's with everything else they produce? Brand recognition and product lock-in.
Although I've never specifically paid a single penny to Google, I'd given them a few bucks through sponsered links. And everytime someone is looking for some service that Google provides, I point them in that direction (search, news, froogle, gmail, etc.) It's just like som Microsoftite suggesting MS software for every solution although other better solutions might exist - it's a dedication culture the company has instilled through brand recognition and quality producst/services.
This could have some real potential. They could introduce XMPP server-side history (searchable through GMail and Google Desktop), and server-to-server SSL, and avatars, and Ogg Speex voice chat... *drool*
There is a lot of cool stuff in Jabber that most client authors aren't bothering with, usually because the really interesting stuff is a moving target. Maybe if Google came in and threw its weight around we can make some real progress and catch up to AIM, MSN, Y!, etc.
The US Army: promoting democracy through unquestioned obedience
you want gPopper
"gPopper is a FREE Gmail utility which acts as POP3/SMTP Gmail server allowing you to use programs such as Outlook, Outlook Express, Eudora, and Thunderbird to send and receive Gmail."
I use it and it works super duper.
http://gmail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?answ er=10313&query=dot&topic=&type=f
:)
:)
Think about how many different gmail addresses you have just adding dots
You're welcome
Did any of you people actually take a look at Hello? (the IM they acquired)
... unflexible? there are probably better IM solutions, with more possibilities and a wider range of features (no, i won't say Jabber .. don't make me ... NO i said!!!)
...
the main focus of this thing is photo sharing. Granted, it does so encrypted, which is a Good Thing, but doesn't that seem a bit
And where is the 'Search' focus of Google?
we've had searchable mail, Searchable desktop,
I'd hate it if people contacted me based on what they found in archived chatlogs of me.
Google's inching closer to a real Privacy-Soul-Sucking-Search!
remember 'the ads are generated by software?'
Exercise caution when modding this message up: the author acts like a jerk when his karma is excellent.
Google already has a social network of sorts mapped out among gmail users. Through their "beta" system of invites, they can monitor who asked whom to join gmail. With an IM client, they could learn even more about who knows whom: who chats with whom, how frequently they chat, content of discussions, etc. I'm not sure that they're going to be evil, but keep in mind that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.
Come on, more competition is a good thing. More players yields more choice, lower price, etc. etc. If google wants to go into the IM business to compete with MS, more power to them! Everyone wins in the end with better products.
Curb CO2 emissions: Kill yourself today!
Instead of creating yet another protocol, why not just use something like jabber.. Or joining forces with AOL, or Yahoo or even Microsoft..
We have enough protocols in use now, we really dont need another to muddy up the waters even more.
---- Booth was a patriot ----
The search is good, still some problems. Its better for finding text inside of files or email. If your searching for a file with a certain name it is a pain in the ass.
do they radio up some of that index to their main search engine for the world to see?
Why would you think they'd do that in the first place? What would it gain them to be exposing people's personal documents to the outside web?
I doubt they would do this but has anyone found any text proving (or disproving ) this?
http://desktop.google.com/about.html#privacy
"9. What about my privacy? Does Google Desktop Search share my content with anyone?
We treat your privacy with the utmost respect. The Google Desktop Search program does not make your computer's content accessible to Google or anyone else. You can learn more by reading the Desktop Search privacy policy. "
Please, i'm not saying Google can do no wrong (and I don't work for them), but do some digging before you start throwing theories like that out there.
Can we ad the borg implants to the Google logo yet?
At the point where they attempt to 'cut off the oxygen supply' of competitors, using any means necessary.
At the point where they take over and then strangle whole markets, just to maintain their dominance in others. (Internet explorer versus Mozilla being the perfect example, promoted heavily for free, then dropped when dominance was established). Watch out for an attempt at more of the same with XAML.
At the point where they attempt to force partners to sign exclusive and secret contracts locking out competition (BeOS).
At the point where they deliberately keep their protocols and formats closed to keep customers locked in. (Word and office suite).
Market share does not make a monopolist, abuse of market share does.
Yes people shouldn't blindly accept everything google does, or allow themselves to be locked into services with them, but that shows no sign of happening as yet.
When it comes down to it, the only reason Google would roll this out, is if they could search it, and provide contextual advertisements in a sidebar.
To that end, I've seen a demonstration of a data mining tool, that can distinguish on an IRC channel, who is talking to whom, and about what (keywords).
As well as advertisements this sort of technology has online privacy ramifications. The suite of software is shaping up to be quite a piece of spyware: if you chat about something controversial, you, and your friends, could have the contents of your inboxes and desktops examined.
A proprietary protocol has profit advantages over shared ones, in the short term. However, a large company putting their weight behind such a protocol isn't a guarantee of success, given MSN and AOL and Yahoo and other well-established chat providers. Taken another way, publishing the protocol and finding some other way to profit (relevant ads, increased market share for other profitable products, etc) would be a way to gain share rapidly. So, there could be other reasons than 'don't be evil' in favor of choice #1 above. But the only motive for guarding a protocol (choice #2) would be putting profit ahead of the customer's interests.
Incidentally, I still think google pretty much is breaking down. One out of ten searches I do gets dominated by astroturfed commercial sites with nothing relevant. Try finding an impartial web-hosting review site, for example. A competitor could eat google's lunch simply by allowing trusted reviewers to flag any site that seems too high on the list. If it is there improperly (by creating whole hierarchies of interlinked websites), prune it and any egregious peers. Get us back to where the top link is nearly always useful.
Also useful from a legal viewpoint is that Gaim by default logs all conversations. There was some ruling several months ago that IM chat logging could be considered as analagous to recording phone calls and therefore may not be legal without both parties being aware of said recording. However, they also said that any service which logged conversations by default was exempt as there was a reasonable doubt that the user intentionally logged said conversations. As a result, you can log legally with Gaim, but turning on chat logging for any of the services which don't come with it on by default could potentially put you into sticky political waters. (And no, I have no desire to know what's in politcal waters that always makes them so sticky...)
This sig has absolutely no significance and serves only to take up screen space and waste the time of the reader.
They seem to enjoy springing stuff on people from nowhere.
free speach
Did you mean: free speech
Don't forget gmail addresses showing up on your MSN list =\ I keep seeing hotmail accounts dying off and being reborn as gmail accounts.