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Google Talk – First Impressions

Posted By Darren Rowse 24th of August 2005 ProBlogger Site News 0 Comments

My initial reactions to Google Talk – the new IM communication tool from Google.

1. No downloads for Mac Users

2. I can use it with Adium but its slowed my Powerbook to a crawl just chatting with one other person on it

3. I can’t use it to make voice calls

4. I have four Windows users msging me telling me they are going to stop using MSN Messenger and all other clients

5. It doesn’t access my Gmail contacts via Adium

If you want to try get me on it my id is darrenrowse at gmail.com but I don’t think I’ll be using it too much. It doesn’t add anything to my life as a Mac user.

About Darren Rowse
Darren Rowse is the founder and editor of ProBlogger Blog Tips and Digital Photography School. Learn more about him here and connect with him on Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn.
Comments
  1. As an avid windows user and fan of Google I will most definetly be using it.

    My first impression:

    1) Where are the ads?

    2) The simple interface reminds me of the early days of AIM.

    3) Where are those ads?

    4) One click emailing through your IM client and the ability to add your contacts.

    5) Uhm, how is google making money with no ads?

  2. Gogole doesn’t do ads on beta products from what I know.

    They’ll come.

  3. From what I’ve heard around the rumor-mill, they are planning on using Gtalk to increase Gmail usage, and increase revenue from Gmail.

  4. The gmail part is quite bizarre, its telling me I’ve got new email before its even on my gmail account screen. Personally I think I’ll be sticking to Skype for the time being because too many people I know use Macs, but I’ve got to say it does look nice.

  5. I like it so far, but I am using trillian so I can run them all at the same time. My aim, msn, and google is robyntippins (guess you figured out my name now, huh?)

    Robyn

  6. Looks interesting; managed to crash it within 5 minutes of install (on Win2k).

    May have to attempt calling you when I get home, Darren, to see what it’s quality’s like compared to Skype.

    Personally I think the only reason it may gain market share in the start is due to Google-love – it’s pretty sparse.

  7. No ads in beta products? You must have disabled them in Gmail then. Shame on you :-) No ads in Google Groups though.

    My first impressions:

    1. Couldn’t figure out how to add contact using other IM tool
    2. I let Google Talk uninstall the Gmail Notifier. Now the mailto: links aren’t handled anymore and start up Outlook. Doh!

  8. you wont be calling me Ben because as I say above as a Mac user I cant access the voice calls part of google talk.

  9. Bummer it won’t work on the mac. I’m not switching back to a PC just to use their chat.

  10. Darren: the voice service works fine with ichat. Just configure a new Jabber account using talk.google.com.

  11. yeah I’ve heard that Brian.

    Issue is that so far I’ve got Adium running with Yahoo, AIM, MSN as well as skype – if I start running ichat and then give into the others I know who want me to get onto the new skype alternative I’ll probably crash my laptop and never get any work done….

  12. It actually bugs me that there are so many competing products in the IM and VOIP markets. Why couldn’t Google just have bought Skype?

    My window is slowly filling with little icons for the handful of communication tools I run.

  13. I can certainly tell you we do not need another messaging services…of course, I would have said that when they started their search engine.

    My experience with Google is that whatever they do, they do it right. After testing Google Talk, I’ll wait for some improvements before I start using it.

    I absolutely hate that they link your username with your gmail address. Does this mean if I publish my username online that I will get spammed within an inch of my life? How could Google be so stupid? *bangs head on keyboard*

  14. Google Talk

    (Google Talk uploaded by brownpau.) Google Talk, Google’s new instant messaging and voice chat service. Sadly, the Google client is Windows only, but Adium X…

  15. Has anyone tried going iChat Jabber to Google Talk? I was voice chatting last night via talk.google.com with iChat to iChat. I assume it works cross platform. Just not with Adium X.

  16. I must admit I’m a sucker for anything Google, and installed it on that basis…

    Google’s really big thing that they’ve done with Talk, is completely invisible. They’ve made it with an open standard and are already in negotiations with a couple of VoIP companies to get them to make compatible products. Basically what this is working towards is making any IM client work with any other.

    Trillian and GAIM are useful (although don’t support voice) but since they have no clout, they haven’t forced MSN, ICQ and Yahoo to open up their networks. The current situation is insane – as if you could only send Hotmail to other Hotmail users.

    As far as profits go, Google have said that the gmail-only thing is just for beta. I see the long-term profits in competing with Skype – charging for the VoIP-to- normal phones later. Google have always said they want to move away from depending on advertising, so it seems like an obvious chance.

    BTW I just made my first call, and the voice quality is stunning – sounded like my gf was in the room, we could even listen to music over the phone… Odd, because it’s supposed to be the same doodahs as Skype. Maybe we were just lucky.

  17. rickshaw says: 10/13/2006 at 1:41 pm

    hi, i am convinced that google talk is a really good IM. in addition to that, found this site called gtalkphone.com. now, it allows me to make PC to ordinary phone calls anywhere in the world and vice-versa. check it out! its cool!

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