It started as a rumor. Now, the so-called Google-IM is finally online — Google Talk!
Google Talk features a free computer-to-computer call. It’s like Yahoo Messenger with voice albeit it looks simplistic. It gives you a basic interface for instant messaging or call with very good sound quality comparable to Skype’s. However Google Talk uses the Jabber protocol, an open standard protocol which is really promising compared to other existing protocols that is kept privately.
Gmail is integrated with Google Talk. You use your Gmail username and passoword to login and once logged in, you can precisely control who you want to block and who can see your online status, much like the stealth setting inYahoo! Messenger.
The first beta release of Google Talk lacks standard features that is already available in other IMs like file transfer, group conference, video conference, and more… Despite these lacking features, Google Talk is a solid piece of instant messenger. More features will be added soon, and the Google team guarantees that they are doing their best to improve Google Talk in future release.
Website: http://talk.google.com
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