Yesterday I posted on the rumours that Google Messenger would launch on Wednesday. A lot more news sites have now been covering this story. Since then, users have discovered the talk.google.com server which seems to be a Jabber/XMPP server. Neowin also claims that some users have managed to connect to the server using their Google Account details. Google executives have also apparently confirmed that Google Talk will be launching tommorow.
It now seems that Google Talk may include VoIP as an attack on services such as Skype and Project Gizmo. And suddenly everything fits into place. Skype is no where near a mainstream service at the moment. Google has huge marketing power and could sell VoIP to the masses. And there’s no doubt they could take on Skype. On the messaging front, Jabber interoperates with other IM networks. I believe AOL have agreed to let Jabber work with AIM/ICQ and there is support for Yahoo and MSN Messenger but one would presume these transports aren’t authorized by Yahoo and Microsoft.
Google Talk could maybe launch with support only for Jabber, AIM and ICQ. In America I believe AIM is a lot more popular than other IM services so users won’t notice missing MSN Messenger and Yahoo! To them, it’ll just feel like a upgrade to AOL’s IM software. In Europe, it may be harder to get a foothold as there is a large base of MSN Messenger users but good marketing could allow Google to erode into the market share. If Google Talk does indeed launch tommorow based on Jabber and continues to be an open protocol, Google may indeed be liberating instant messaging from the dark days of proprietary systems.
By the way, MSN Messenger 7.5 was just released. According to Mess with MSN Messenger, MSN Messenger 7.5 has better voice quality and there is better echo cancelling. Pre-emptive strike on Google Talk, anyone?
The shittin’ MSN Messenger 7.5 doesn’t crashes on me, I can’t find 7.0 anywhere so I download 6.2. It then won’t let me use it unless I upgrade to 7.5. Christ, sometimes, I really really do hate Microsoft. Only sometimes though – the rest of the time, it’s the greatest company in the world.
Update: Luckily, the MSN update service hasn’t been updated to 7.5 so I’m now installing 7.0 again
. God, I love Microsoft 
.
Update: 7.0 is screwed for me now as well.
Heh. Just out of interest, where did you find the version 7.0 download?
Thats cool, glad to see i can still use Gaim.
I’m hoping they release a linux client though.
MSN Messenger wil still be the biggest.
By downloading version 6.2 and then it forcing me to upgrade
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I’ve got my fingers crossed that the way you outlined things in this entry is also how things will be.
I’m almost excited, except that I don’t want to get my hopes up.
http://www.google.com/talk/
Jabber server and all.. already connected via GAIM
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Yay; thanks for the head up
I’m gonna try it now.
There seems be an “easter egg” hidden in the About dialog.
If a=1, b=2 and so on, you get play wumpus.game. And apparently if you add wumpus.game@gmail.com and send the message “play” you can play Wumpus.