There’s both dismissive and speculative talk abound about Google Talk, Google’s IM and VoIP application for Windows.
The point of the Google talk isn’t all about ‘another IM contender or so’, ‘evil empire’ or ‘Skype is next’. Nope: Google supports the Jabber protocol. People who followed the IM scuffle in the early 2000s may remember how MSN, Yahoo and AOL tried to work together on a protocol to offer as a standard to the IETF. This effort failed and all parties decided to go on with their own business to keep their protocol or network closed. With Google backing Jabber, it wouldn’t surprise me that the Jabber protocol finally gets the acceptance it deserves. That’s the important message of today’s release of Google Talk. I mean, why would you want to hang around a closed IM format?
Google’s actual VoIP implementation is not bad. It’s easier to set up than other implementation and seems to work right after plugging the microphone in. Now, if only they had clients supporting platforms like Linux and Apple.