Slashdot Mirror
Google, Skype and the Future of IM
Matt Veenstra sent in a nice little piece of rumor mongering about how Google's new Talk/Jabber/IM thing is just a stepping stone, but it's really just a foreshadowing of
their future buyout of Skype. Worth some thought anyway.
Honestly, is a story based at least marginally on fact too much to ask? A entire article without one scrap of evidence to back it up...in fact, in under thirty seconds I was able to find two articles that would seem to contradict this assertion.
How exactly did this make it onto Slashdot?
Google, Skype and the Future of IM
Oh, I see...
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
But I guess history shows that the Skype creators could sell their creation to set out for something else. That's what they did with Kazaa anyway.
Clever signature text goes here.
They already have VoIP built into their client and a huge marketing machine, including millions of viral marketing droids, working in their favor.
Doesn't anyone concern that Google now can archive your email, your IMs, your web search (thus your personal interests), and your phone calls?
whatever happened to privacy
It's Wednesday. Tuesday was yesterday. Your troll is a day late.
Man is a slave because freedom is difficult, whereas slavery is easy.
Given how they've dissembled and denied all the rumours about instant messaging, it's good to see that Google's "corporate morality" is such that "tell no lies" doesn't fall within the aegis of "do no evil".
Athletic Scholarships to universities make as much sense as academic scholarships to sports teams.
Stories that I submitted that they rejected:
So much for "News for Nerds"
A Google topic. I was startin' to get the jitters waiting for my fix. Tx Taco!
I thought Google Talk already came with a voice feature? I see it right there in the options.
Is Skype technically better?
It would be great. Every time you click on an ad you get a free minute of long distance. Sounds like a good idea for the home user who wants to talk to his family in India. I can only imagine the number of clicks happening.
I doubt thats how it would work, it would probably require you to DO something after you clicked on the advertisement.
well this maybe the realization of google world denomination
At the same time, Google would just love to intermingle Skype and AdSense. It would be great. Every time you click on an ad you get a free minute of long distance. Sounds like a good idea for the home user who wants to talk to his family in India. I can only imagine the number of clicks happening. Ads change as you IM your friends and start talking about the latest movie star gossip. This is completely in line with Google's context sensitive advertising.
isn't it the same as having employees to click on the ads without giving any value to the advertiser ?
Did anyone who moderated this actually look at the site?
It has less than 10 posts, and was 'created' by the twit who posted the URL.
The few posts on the site tend to be inaccurate.
As a side note, Im sure we would soon see google integrate everything where we search for a person/name, it brings up his address, phone number (both currently found by searching for number), icon to send email, IM or call directly, all a click away. Imagine that!
This is news? Its some guy's completely unsubstantiated opinion that this would be a good move by Google and Skype. Nothing to see here.
planet texture maps and more
Check out Kottke's article GoogleOS? YahooOS? MozillaOS? WebOS?. In which he speculates about the future of the WebOS.
If Google were planning on buying out Skype, why would they release a version of Google Talk with their own implementation of voice chat? Doesn't make much sense to me. Furthermore, has Google ever bought a company worth that much before? Most of their aqcuisitions seem to be companies that have good software but aren't very popular, therefore, they Google gets quite a bargain by purchasing them for far less than they're worth. Skype doesn't fit that bill, imo.
Comment removed based on user account deletion
Since we're jumping to conclusions about Google's corporate strategy today, I'll go ahead and give mine. It seems to me like Google wants to get into the field with their product and see where it goes.
Google Talk seems pretty barebones at the moment, but if we remember correctly, so was Gmail when it first came out. I've had it from day 3 or 4, and it wasn't really all that great at the time--the only thing to write home about was the amount of space you have.
Anyway, that seems to be Google's strategy with everything--launch a product in beta, then continuously improve it until everyone loves it. I could be wrong, but it seems like they would be competing with Skype and using their own in-house programs, rather than buying them out.
Just a thought...
Grammar Lesson: you're is a contraction of "you are"; your means you possess something; yore means days gone by.
Worth some thought anyway.
Or not. I have better things to think about than rumors of Google buying companies they haven't offered to purchase. Like commenting on this story about the rumors!
...so I guess I'll join in. This could be really cool. Skype and Google could be a marriage made in heaven. Skype is a good product, but to be great I think a few google phds could really iron out some of its potential flaws. Also, the google brand could make the product less scary to companies who see 'from the company that bought you kazaa' as a bad thing (quite rightly). It would also increase the number of people on the system. Even though its been out for months, I know very few people that use it.
The biggest problem I see with Skype at the moment is hardware. I set my girlfriend up with it and it caused no end of problems. Its one thing learning to use the interface (which is good) its another thing to learn about feedback, line in/out and buying a headphone set specifically for the purpose of VoIP (even if it is only $15). Still it was easier than trying to get AIM to work with iChat for a video chat.
Scared of flying, pointy things snce 1979!
You must be running pretty low on RAM to not be able to run 4 or 5 IM programs. Perhaps you should upgrade from Windows 95 while you're at it?
Grammar Lesson: you're is a contraction of "you are"; your means you possess something; yore means days gone by.
I have this feeling that the page will be slashdotted soon, so I'll just go ahead and post the worthless article (not that anyone will read it anyway)
Vol 13: Why Google's Instant Message Service is Not about Jabber but about Skype Date Published: August 23, 2005 By: Matt Veenstra
We recently have heard through the grapevine that the 3 billion dollar (US) offer from News Corp. was not enough money to convince the wonder twins over at Skype, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, to sell. This is not just about money for Niklas and Janus. There must be a passion for technology. Look at Kazaa. Illegal file sharing is a hard business to make money at. At this point, it seems that any way they go, they stand to make a boat load of money when Skype hits the market, but it will be in a way they want.
Now step in the super boys, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, of Google. Google does not have a great VoIP and Instant Message option. Jabber is fine, but it is no Skype. Technology-wise, Skype fits Google very well. A closed sourced open API environment that really just works. Look at Google maps. Look at AdSense and AdWords. They just work and on any platform, much like Skype.
Since $3 billion was not enough we know the offer needs present more money, and definitely more opportunity. More money equals Google's enormous market cap combined with their announcement to sell $4.2 billion worth of stock. We now we have the money. More opportunity is very simple. The first offer was made my News Corp. and Rupert Murdoch. Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is not the technology playland Skype wants to join. Google on the other hand is the company we all want to sell our great cool technologies to.
Skype has doesn't have an advertising revenue stream with Skype In and Out. This is attractive to Google as their revenue is very ad-based. In the future, there needs to be new revenue streams for Google's stock to justify its price.
At the same time, Google would just love to intermingle Skype and AdSense. It would be great. Every time you click on an ad you get a free minute of long distance. Sounds like a good idea for the home user who wants to talk to his family in India. I can only imagine the number of clicks happening. Ads change as you IM your friends and start talking about the latest movie star gossip. This is completely in line with Google's context sensitive advertising.
Google likes to create in-house, but they also know when to buy. The Picasso Image browser and Prya - Blogger.com - are some good examples of technology purchases they have made. It is not out of the question for Google to buy technology.
Google and Skype are technology companies who care about company culture, and dare I say it, world culture. Now we have the hottest technology company in Google buying the telecom killer of tomorrow, Skype.
Wonder twin powers activate ... form of ... the Fantastic Four.
Grammar Lesson: you're is a contraction of "you are"; your means you possess something; yore means days gone by.
If you read the google talk about and developer pages,
they clearly say that Google is committed to open standards. Skype is certainly not an open standard!
http://www.google.com/talk/about.html
http://www.google.com/talk/developer.html
who can't stop all this jibber-Jabber about Google.
I never spellcheck and I freely admit it. Save your karma for more worthwhile "lol erorrs" replies
Um...one word man...Gaim, just get Gaim. It already does all those chat clients (and google's) plus IRC.
Seriously, do we need this much coverage of Google? Hey look google now does this and now does that and now does stuff that's been OFFERED BY EVERYONE ELSE.
Granded they do make things better than everyone else, but it's really getting old. There should be a limit to 1 google article a week.
If you send email to someone on gmail, or you IM someone who's using Google-Talk, sure, Google could have a copy of that.
But lets be realistic. Google probably doesn't want any information about *you*, they probably want to *aggregate information*, which is what they've been doing all along.
This is all an extension of search. Through all the "omg", "lol", and "haha"s in Instant Messenger, there's thousands of words that can be associated with both each other and with other links. There's thousands of white-listed and black-listed participants, because people naturally filter their conversations. They don't want a database about *you*, they want a relational database about *communication*, to make it easier to find out what someone means when they type something like "river bank" or "white house".
It's all about relationships between language. Conversation is a natural extension. They provide a service, they get tons of data.
At least, this is what I would be doing with the data. Google might not be doing that.
There aren't any ads on the site, dim-wit.
If your system tray is your only concern, consider using GAIM. It has all the networks you mentioned (even those you gave up on!), and only takes one icon in your systray.
or get one of the millions of programs that do multiple IMs
trillian
gaim
kopete
hehe there are even console based ones that do
(miranda, centericq)
I for one, welcome our new hot grits... PROFIT!
They did infact "rigged something up" except that instead of IRC they used the nice and open standard Jabbar protocol. They also have information on their site how to access it from various other clients.
And you could just use any of the various IM clients that intergrates all the seperate ones, like GAIM, Trillian, etc.
Wouldn't have hurt if you at least pretended to look at it before whining about it.
Too bad the google talk that just launch appears to already appears to have "call" capabilities.
http://www.google.com/talk/
Open-source (it uses Jabber!) IM that is backed by Google? Yes please!
I don't know about you, but I want to have "one IM to rule them all" that is also open source. Jabber was the prime candidate, but it was rather minor when compared to MSN, AIM and the like. Not anymore. Google is about to increase the number of people using Jabber by order of magnitude!
With Google's help, we just might get an IM-infrastructure that is based on open source and open standards. No need to mess around with MSN and the like, just use Jabber. No need to work around proprietary protocols.
If Google manages to put VOIP in there as well, more power to them! Once system for all your IM'ing and VOIPping. Based on open standards. Based on open source. With millions of users. Yes please! No longer would we have to rely on Skype for clients and service. No longer would we have to worry when MS or AOL breaks our IM-clients with "updated" versions of their protocol.
Lesbian Nazi Hookers Abducted by UFOs and Forced Into Weight Loss Programs - -all next week on Town Talk.
I said the same darn thing yesterday on my blog http://thatedeguy.blogspot.com/ this article is a little more technical about it but what the heck...
A Linux flavor for every Month!
I wonder... Google.com profit is just ads and selling search tech to others. GMail is mainly "search your mail" (Free POP3!), secondary profit - ads. Now Google Talk - most likely monitoring/aggregating IM conversations. I wonder if they will be able to aggregate/search voice conversations the same.
Anagram("United States of America") == "Dine out, taste a Mac, fries"
whatever happened to privacy
Do you think they're providing those services out of the kindness of their heart or because they are somehow indebted to you? You chose to give up some of your privacy by using their free email, free instant messaging, and free web searching, you cheap bastard.
You want privacy? Buy a stamp and send a letter.
Instead of a shameless plug, you could have linked to the Google Talk Support Article about Gaim itself.
This whole piece is full of half-baked speculation. Google is perfectly happy with their current client which has been in development for months.
Its not as if Google is in the business of investing time, money and press exposure on "interim, stepping stones".
Google wanted Jabber. And that's what they used. The current client supports VOIP, and uses open standards. Anyone who knows Google knows that Jabber and Google's own VOIP are the platform for the next 5 years at least.
The only question should be: Will Google buy Webb Interactive (46% owner of Jabber)
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
Right now, I have a Pentium M 1.6GHz based notebook with GTalk, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Ineen and Skype running. If I close all these programs my RAM usage drops by 146 megs. Now that's nothing to sneeze at and the original parent makes a great point. These days my windows systems drink RAM for breakfast.
Actually, the more I think about this... the more it makes sense.
Webb Interactive (WEBB.OB) owns somewhere south of 50% of Jabber, Inc.
It *does* seem sort of surprising that Google would bank so heavily on the Jabber platform with no equity stake. Granted, its an open standard, but the amount of development Jabber, Inc. has in terms of server and enterprise components far, far exceeds anything that Google has.
I'd put my 2 cents on Google buying (the very tiny Webb Interactive) before they buy Skype.
------ The best brain training is now totally free : )
When gnome-meeting is free?
I wish Google would fix their increasing problem with all the spam and junnk pages that clutter up search results before launching a thousand random projects: Orkut, Gmail, IM, tool bar, dark fiber, Gkitchen sink...
Skype supports multiple platforms (Windows, Linux, MacOS X, PocketPC w/ WiFi). I use it under Linux (using the version one step back from the latest, since the latest has bugs) and it works beautifully. Plus it uses some form of technique (a P2P network) to get around firewall limitations as much as possible. As I understand it, the CODECs it uses (probably along with the network stack) are provided by http://www.globalipsound.com/ (in a PC-to-PC skype call it says the "ISAC" codec is being used-- http://www.globalipsound.com/datasheets/iSAC.pdf)
They have the SkypeOut/SkypeIn service which allows you to make outgoing calls, and SkypeIn allows you to own a telephone number in a number of different countries (USA, UK, France, Hong Kong, Denmark, Finland, Sweden, Poland currently) which link to your account. When you're using these I don't think Skype uses the ISAC codec, it uses something with crappier quality.
(note: I don't work for them, I've just been a happy customer for the past few months, especially with the Linux support.)
the real at&t mix
Wow.
What problems we have. What a tragedy it would be if we weren't in contact with every one we know every minute of the day.
Gaim even has spell check. Chat with Spell check! the mind reels. Gaim as an IRC client is pretty lame but it works.
See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
I for one won't be changing from Skype. Although Google's IM supports open standards, skype is more secure. It is the only client which encrypts all comunications end-to-end, without requiring user intervention, thereby insuring that even your non tech friends use secure comunications.
Add to that the fact that pc-to-pc calls sound great (quality varies on pc-to-phone), file transfers are faster than most other clients I've tried (never tried AIM, though), and the interface is clean and runs natively on linux and mac, and I really don't see what google is offering me which I don't already have.
I mean besides having to convince people to get yet another email address so they can use a gmail account to use google's new IM client...
I'm losing track..er..sorry, this is /. isn't it..I'm loosing track...
Do we hate Google or just M$? Are we basking in the glory of the great Google or bemoaning their plans for world dominance?
Is there an official definition of when we start to hate company 'x' and is it based on size, acquisitions or some form of Open Source-related thing?
Do we say that organisations hitting 'critical mass' have 'Jumped the Gates'??
AT&ROFLMAO
In the article he says:
> Every time you click on an ad you get
> a free minute of long distance. Sounds
> like a good idea for the home user who
> wants to talk to his family in India.
In online advertising, you generally don't want incentivized clicks like this, because the users are not really interested in the ad.. therefore the sites paying for the clicks don't sell, and people get upset because the quality of the traffic goes down.
A move like this would devalue all of google's pay per click advertising. They definitely won't do it.
Do any of the Linux® Jabber clients support voice?
Linux® is the registered trademark of Linus
Torvalds in the U.S. and other countries.
Deleted
,,They just work and on any platform, much like Skype.''
In your dream. Skype doesn't work on huge amount of platforms. Some of them quite popular like Linux/ppc. Skype is about money and they provide clients only for these platforms which can gain them profit. Nothing more.
I don't know if anyone has mentioned this before but I noticed wrapping your words in asterisks like *this* causes your words to be bolded. I wonder what other undocumented features there are out there.
Did anybody else notice that Gmail now supports using foreign "From:" addresses? So I can send mail from my Gmail account that looks like it came from my Comcast accound... Or from a non-existant mailinator account! I wonder what the point of that is? Maybe they're going to add recieving from foreign POP servers, too...
My Systems
what exactly am I plugging?
Software Wars
As a side note, Im sure we would soon see google integrate everything where we search for a person/name, it brings up his address, phone number (both currently found by searching for number), icon to send email, IM or call directly, all a click away. Imagine that!
s/dim-wit/yet
I think, therefore I am. I think?
WTF are the moderators smoking? It's ON TOPIC. Mod parent FUNNY, dumbasses.
Last I checked, Google's image tool was named Picasa, not Picasso.
Silly mistakes like this give the impression of a dashed off article after a coffee-break idea, rather than careful consideration which is backed up by a bit of research.
Michael Robertson
Quote "But there's something much more noteworthy about the announcement. Google is agreeing to connect to other networks - something the big three instant messaging companies have refused to do. My company, SIPphone, has agreed to join into a federation with Google to use open standards and allow our customers to trade instant messages and voice calls. "
That's from the latest newsletter, which will eventually be at http://www.michaelrobertson.com/index.php when his webmaster gets off his ass and posts the latest one.
Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
I have MSN, AIM and now Google Talk running.
Here's the quick breakdown for you:
MSN: ~10MB
AIM: ~ 5MB
Google: 3-5MB
Now, I know I'm ignorant and all that, but it seems like my system is using 20MB of ram for all three IM clients combined, where yours is using an extra ~126 MB for 3 more programs. Let's say I had those extra 3 programs running, and that they also use 20MB combined. That's 40MB total so far. You're using 3.5 times that, somehow. Either there are serious problems with Yahoo, Ineen and Skype, or you have a COMPUTER PROBLEM. There's no way on earth that you should be using almost 150 MB for 6 relatively small programs.
Why do you have 6 different IM programs in the first place? Why don't you try Trillian and eliminate 3 of those programs you're running?
Ok, I'm done now. Go get your computer fixed.
Grammar Lesson: you're is a contraction of "you are"; your means you possess something; yore means days gone by.
What do I need a Google messaging client for? I've been using Yahoo Mail for eight years. It's the best in the business. I've been using Yahoo Messenger and AIM thru Apple iChat since I began using IM several years ago. My contacts are all set up with Yahoo.
What do I need Google's customized news page for? I have My Yahoo, which is far more powerful and resourceful than Google's upstart customizable news page.
Heck, what do I even need Google search for? Yahoo's search engine seems to bring up just as relevant or better results. It's nice to have the competition, but my greater point is...
Why all this hype about Google? Sure, their stock is at $350 or whatever, but who cares? Does anybody actually believe Google is worth that? No. It's just like the dot-com days and stock valuations. People buy it just because they believe it'll go higher, not because they believe in the ratios.
I'm sick and tired of hearing about Google supposedly doing this and supposedly doing that. And even when they come out with something new, it's not a big deal and usually not something I'm going to regularly use.
Google is old news. Their search engine works great. Yeah, I know.
that they're not totally sincere with you?
Janus Friis of Skype just said the opposite:
"We have potential, as the only IM (instant messaging) company focused on communications and as a result of our fast growth. We're very happy with our prospects as a standalone company. We've always meant this company to be for the long run. We're investing heavily in our infrastructure,"
Link to story
Hack your mind out of its sandbox.
So why is everyone so impressed? This is not an improvement by any means over what exists out there. Google has been know to take whats out there and bring it up a level. This doesn't show any type of an improvement over the status quo like their search engine was or Gmail. I hope in the end to do buy up a player like Skype, Meetro, or what have you flying around rumor wise.
Mod me troll if you like but I'm sick of people going on and on about Google's privacy policies, every single Google topic will have hundreds of posts from people who are worried about what Google will do with their email, search queries, IM conversations, IP's etc. Yes they are collecting data and so much data I really don't care what they have about me, I'm hidden in obscurity by millions of other users and, more importantly Google don't care about my personnel credentials, they care about how many hundreds of thousands of people click their ads and why. Please stop bitching about it, they collect data, they like data, nobody is so big and important that they give a damn what your address is or that your wife emails you about the nooner you had last week at work.
http://share.skype.com/e x.php
http://www.macworld.com/news/2005/08/24/skype/ind
Google states that they are planning to back the open SIP protocol.
:: http://www.google.com/talk/developer.html
::
"Google Talk supports XMPP with the beta release. We plan to support SIP in a future release. Additionally, we will evaluate other protocols as appropriate, to continue to deliver on our commitment to open communications."
Skype is a closed model.
I don't think Google is going to buy Skype, I think they are going to KILL Skype.
They are also going to be taking a good run at killing AIM when they integrate Google Talk with federation
"We do not have details at this time on when federation will be enabled. But we are working closely with Earthlink and Sipphone to federate EarthLink's Vling service and Sipphone's Gizmo Project with the Google Talk service as quickly as possible, while offering the best possible user experience." (same link)
da da, da, ching!
Having all manner of communication going through their wires will allow Google to train their upcoming translation service. Watching IM logs also helps chatbots evolve as they learn associations between words and phrases.
Exactly. And the Slate Article points out - all this author did was poorly recap the 8/20 speculation from the Financial Times. I hope I can write (without having pesky things like research or interviews) about whatever is next week's headline in Time Magazine and people will fancy that a Slashdot article.
indeed..
Indeed, all they said was "it's a rumour". Well, it WAS a rumour, and a true one, at that.
Send email from the afterlife! Write your e-will at Dead Man's Switch.
Why would Google buy Skype when according to this they already use the same codec?
That's crap. Google's business isn't personal advertisement, it's context-sensitive advertisement. Otherwise, they'd have to wait for people to use their service for years before targetting ads, and their stuff would be worthless on things like library computers, which are used by thousands of people each day.
No, google's business is understanding language and interpretting that language in such a way as to target advertisements that relate directly.
It really should have nothing to do with personal information. It has to do with tendancies and information in general.
How is that any different from AOL?
Build a man a fire, he's warm for one night. Set him on fire, and he's warm for the rest of his life.
http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=1038 44
What are they, solid gold Internet phones?
Have we time-warped back to dotcom 2000?
What are they going to call this one, voipcom bomb?
"Since $3 billion was not enough we know the offer needs present more money, and definitely more opportunity. More money equals Google's enormous market cap combined with their announcement to sell $4.2 billion worth of stock."
IMHO there are too many IM protocols/networks already. It's like having 10 different phone networks where people can not call each other if they live on different networks. IM should not be closed networks but as open as email. I want to pick a client and IM to everybody I know, independent of the network their on.
This posting barely qualifies as rumor. At best, it's part of some kind of viral strategy from Skype to generate interest. Google has no need to buy Skype. Other than a fairly large and loyal userbase and some interesting peer-to-peer technology, Skype would have very little of interest for Google. Plus, Skype completely goes against the philosophy that Google details on their own webpages promoting Google talk. Skype doesn't use anything close to an open standard and the only reason they can stay in business is that their call-in/call-out services (the only thing they make money on) is monopolized by their lack of interoperability.
That being said, Google talk has a long way to go before it lives up to Google's own marketing. It's nice that it's jabber-based, but it's missing the key feature of the entire jabber system -- message routing and transparency. Jabber is designed from the ground up to be a MESSAGE ROUTING protocol much like email. I find it very ironic that Google goes on and on about how great and open and interoperable using jabber is, when I can't send a message from my *existing jabber acccount* to a Google talk user. What's worse is that they have some sort of ridiculous process of 'Federation' cooked up to make the links. This is sort of like if they were to make Gmail a service that could only exchange messages between Gmail users (and select other mailservers they choose to 'Federate' with.)
Bad move.
Just a quick FYI for those that don't already know, Google Talk is now open to the public. You will need a Gmail account, though. You can download the client here and there is some additional info here.
woohoo! If this guy can get a poorly written, totally speculative, and factually incorrect article posted to slashdot; even I've got a shot at it. Digg can kiss my ass.
By the way, you do realize that once I've shown up on your website, all your nerd cred is pretty much done with - don't you?
Joseph Sixpack - Representing the average pc user from Americas heartland since the day before yesterday.
WebOS, in Spanish sounds exactly like "eggs" ("huevos"), i.e. "balls".
Talk about Google withdrawal, does anyone else out there need a SCO fix? ;)
Okay I deserved that for my initial comment. The reason I use the native clients is because I have contacts which use funky features on each that are not available on Trillian. Another reason for the massive memory usage is that AIM still has it's memory leaks so after running the latest version for a few days without terminating the program leaves you with a lot of used up memory. The same story exists for Yahoo messenger. Hence the 146megs I mentioned. Now I've restarted all the clients and we are hovering around 55megs usage but it WILL go up. I think the original parent was right on when he said that we need more RAM just to keep up with this mess. Think about it, most average to above average users have 512 megs of RAM. If 10%+ is going to IM clients, then that's a tad excessive. On the other hand I have 1.5gigs of RAM so I can spare some here and there. =)
Well said.
Having spent a while this morning instlling it, and generally buggering about with it, I was left with the distinct impression that this is the thin end of another GoogleWedge (TM).
In summary:
but
- It has millions of ready made users with gmail accounts.
- It has a surprisingly respectful user interface that is a joy to use.
- It has potential to be extended from day one (unlike AIM or YIM where the owners have fought to keep the protocols closed and proprietary.
If I were to be really speculative I'd say that the most significant effect of todays beta launch is that it positions Google as a credible competitor to Skype, which may lower Skype's valuation, and thus make it a more attractive aquisition.boakes.org
Now I understand the whole Linux patent issue we've been seeing... It must be that Google is getting ready to launch GoogleLinux!
It's not like they're starting a war. You might as well criticize Kasparov for feinting a pawn capture--the flagrant dishonesty!
What exactly are the negative ramifications of Google dissembling and denying rumors about its next product? If you feel cheated or hurt, it's time to go outside. However annoying the Google brown-nosing here might be, you're really reaching for something to complain about.
you can have my violent video games when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.
Prime UID Club
I had SUCH high hopes, Google. Now I'm disappointed. I was imagining a world in which I could get rid of logging into FIVE different IM services. But because you've decided not to support server-to-server jabber, I know have to have SIX different IM services.
Shame on you google for talking the talk but not walking the walk. "We're using the open jabber protocol!", cried google. Good for you.
To give you an example of why not supporting server-to-server is bad, imagine a world in which e-mail works like Instant Messaging.
In order to e-mail someone on gmail.com, you would have to send the e-mail FROM gmail.com. To send e-mail to yahoo, you would login to mail.yahoo.com.
That would be silly wouldn't it? Well, that's exactly how ALL of the existing IM services work. Jabber, is the only protocol for IM that addresses this problem. And how does it address this problem? Just like e-mail does, it routes the messages back and forth SERVER-TO-SERVER.
Google's new "Google Talk" service, does no such thing, despite the fact that this is core functionality in most jabber servers.
Did google do this on purpose? Do they intend on turning this on later? Only time will tell. I certainly hope google gets a clue and turns server-to-server jabber on sooner rather than later.
"Look at Google maps ... They just work and on any platform, much like Skype."
Last I looked, google maps were a Windows-only thing, with vague promises of other platforms.
As has been posted in other messages on this thread, Google has publicly claimed to be moving toward SIP. There are only 2 standards that are really being used by telephone companies (both ILEC and CLEC) for their VoIP -> SIP and MGCP. By leveraging SIP, Google can plugin to this network if they so choose. Skype is out of the question since it's a closed protocol that's going nowhere but between people already on the net.
However, the money isn't made in SIP connections, it's in the connection between SIP and POTS (plain old telephone service) phones, and phone features. Current phone companies make money in 2 ways: phone connection services, and phone features. Internet phone services remove option 1 since the bandwidth on the net can use a little as 64k for decent quality phone 128k+ for high quality (ala Vonage, et.al.), and it's paid for as a monthly pipe instead of a per minute charge. Phone features come primarily from big class 5 switches that are notoriously hard to upgrade and add new features to. They are being replaced with Open Source IPTel and other SIP servers, and the features become trivial to add / upgrade, besides the cost is 1/100th of a class 5 switch.
The real money maker is in the transitionary connection charges between SIP / MGCP and the POTS network. Since Google has been buying lots of dark fiber (presumeably to light it for massive internal bandwidth increases and -no- connection charges), they will soon have their own internal bandwidth to route free VoIP calls through. The beauty is that they could then begin selling SIP POTS services for far less than Vonage, and this service will make oodles of cash. If they were to purchase Vonage, they could get a jump on the subscriber base and local phone connectivity could then be move to Google's new high speed internal network.
So, Google buying Skype? Not a chance. Google buying Vonage? I've wondered about that for over a year.Hmm... It is expected from Google to hit the IM, VoIP market but IMO they(GOOG) are a bit late. We already have "Google" of the VoIP and it is Sunrocket. Check it out for yourself at www.sunrocket.com. Quality VoIP service with all features you want for only fraction of cost. Who needs Skypeeee when you have Sunrocket's VoIP internet phone. ~leo~
~Leo
Google is turning into pure corporate evil. They are attempting to emulate Microsoft's behavior only with some tweaks by extending into everyones market and crushing them and making one NEED Google. Here in Europe where I am visiting there is a very strong feeling that Google is a American cultural danger to Europe and that MS and Google want to dominate the desktop and the internet. It looks in some ways that the fears are founded.
I was right!
Not that too many people will read this comment... here's the text:
If google were to come up with their own IM client and protocol then this could be what will give them the big boost in numbers (kids, teens, young adults primarily) to switch to all of their products (gmail, desktop search, etc) because Microsoft is keeping everyone at hotmail since MSN Messenger is tied into it.
Until this occurs the vast majority of the younger generation will still be stuck in the MS world (at least in Canada, maybe AIM or Yahoo in the US?).
Maybe a highly intuitive integrated VoIP solution could give them the edge? I dunno, 1 hour of sleep last night so please be kind...
Google never has a website that sucks
Have you ever used Orkut?
It's better to be the foot on the boot than the face on the pavement. ~~ tkx Kadin2048
Skype is foreign and can tell CALEA to go lick a power outlet. Google can't. Ergo, Google should not buy Skype.
Well until Google gives me a reason not to trust them, I will. They actively compete on their merits, not on monopoly or force.
So if Google Talk is restricted in China, like Google Search is, then you might not trust them?
google could save 4b on the purchase price of skype and buy digium to get asterisk instead - which interoperates with all the major voice protocols (sip, iax, h323, mgcp but not skype at present). Asterisk is approaching version 1.2 at a breakneck clip.
I don't think Google has any intention of aquiring Skype. Skype isn't SIP compliant, and while Skype might be more well known right now, SIP is a standard, and Google's own developer page highlights a desire to integrate with one of Skype's competitors, the Gizmo Project: http://www.google.com/talk/developer.html
Because Google Talk does not currently connect to land lines.
I am defenseless. Use your button. Mod me down with all of your hatred.
Google could have released a client like this: http://jwchat.sourceforge.net/ no? or at least a minimal version that only does text based msging.
Wait. So Google has bought an closed-protocol IM client that came with an image application developer (Picasa). Then they release an IM client based on an open IM protocol instead.
So this means they're going to buy a closed-protocol VOIP developer? So... they can release a VOIP app based on an incompatible open protocol that already exists (SIP)?
Perhaps Picasa'a IM client was a red herring - after all, they had this great image processing app, which is probably what they really wanted.
Skype, on the other hand, is a one-hit wonder. if you're not going to to buy the company for the VOIP app, there's nothing else worth having.
ok so i created this forum so you dont have to spam your email account or discuss how you hate or love this new client from google. spread the word about http://googletalkforum.kazorum.com/
In its canonical implementation it works in roughly 80% of cases where it can be applied.
It may sound like a lot, but it's not - it's 1 out 5 failure rate.
And while it is possible to get it to nearly 100%, hole-punching is still far from being mainstream technology.
3.243F6A8885A308D313
I have heard it from reliable sources that AIM MSN and Yahoo support are in the internal version of Google Talk... I wonder when we will see these features in the public version?
I have to say this as a European. Europe in itself is quite lazy, and only makes these kind of noises once they figure out they are being left behind. Google is innovative enough to start all different kinds of projects. It was the Google Library which triggered this off, and this particularly upset the French as they are always trying to dominate Europe with their politics and language, and they saw that America (companies) had a new project which could effectively increase the access of the world to English language text.
The French had a long time to build up such a similar library with the state funding. However they just made re-actionary moves by persuading the EU to fund what (seems to me) a French dominated European library project.
I actually am fed up of helping to fund projects where the main beneficiaries are the French. Even the new EU countries can see this imbalance.
The thing is in that America seems to support innovation to a greater extent - or at least they 'cheerlead' it more than in Europe. Skype could be an exception in that it is (apparently) from Luxembourg.
And if people have such strong feelings about MS tell them to use Linux and KDE - strong European cores.
Except that the Google Talk FAQ dosen't actually work...
You must drop the @gmail.com part from your username. Otherwise, it won't work.
While I don't aggree with posting to a personal site, this time it was actually sort of valid. I only wish I had mod points... Oh well. You gotta do what you gotta do.
LOL
Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. is not the technology playland Skype wants to be a part of. Google on the other hand is the company we all want to sell our great cool technologies to.
When people want to sell out their technology, they don't care who it goes to. It's insignificant because they have no control of once sold.
A more reasonable way of looking at it would be to suggest that google are doing this to created a unified messaging approach. One ID to give you voice, IM and mail. Who wants to mess around having a Gmail account and Skype account.