You can now talk to AIM contacts inside of Gmail - just open the drop down menu in the quick contacts list and select “Sign in to AIM.” The buddy list appears - personally I’d also go to Options in the bottom left and choose “Show all contacts.” (You can pick your buddy list size too - I like medium.)
In reality, I don’t really use Gmail too often; I prefer Mozilla Thunderbird. What this recent integration may suggest, however, is pretty grand. It may be a hint that Google is trying to get multiple networks integrated into its chat.
As of now, I’m using Pidgin (hey, its free and it works) to link my AIM and gTalk accounts. It works fine and has some nice features, but it lacks some more vital functions. File sharing works fine with AIM, but when I try to share files with gTalk contacts the sharing never goes through. (I haven’t been able to test it with MSN or Yahoo!) Pidgin lacks voice and video features as well. (gTalk, on the other hand, has a very nice calling feature that I sorely miss.)
Trillian makes me pay for gTalk.
And along comes Google. I’m hoping (and thinking…and begging) that the Google Talk desktop client will eventually support AIM as well. It would be very, very nice to be able to use gTalk for Google, AIM, and other networks all at once. I’m sure Google would be able to pull it off with flair. It would most definitely increase the number of users - the only thing stopping me from using gTalk is the fact that I’d have to have two programs running for chat (AIM/Pidgin and gTalk). They’ve already managed to integrate AIM into Gmail…how hard would it be to bring it to the desktop?
As more evidence, Google’s blog concludes with: “P.S. If you own a large IM network and would like to work with us, have your people contact our people.” I’m not sure what that means exactly, but it rings of “AIM is only the beginning.”
My only doubt right now is about how that would work out in the politics of the Internet…would Yahoo!, and Microsoft ever have their people call Google’s people? AOL, I can understand. They’re losing already. But Microsoft seems to believe itself to be a competitor of Google (even though Microsoft makes software); I wonder what would happen there.
Google supporting multiple networks in one client wouldn’t surprise me. It’s just another reminder that Google is dominating the Internet.
Popularity: 49% [?]
Don’t you think that Google is creating a monopoly? They are dominating every area they enter. Sure it’s free, but at what eventual cost? Will Google get access to all our information, or will we be so dependent on their products that we’ll pay high prices to use their services?
-Diana
December 15, 2007
I don’t understand your point about Microsoft and Google not being competitors. Google’s in virtually every market Microsoft is.
For evidence,
-Office software (Microsoft Office vs. Google docs)
-Web Browsing (IE vs Google’s support for Firefox)
-Search (umm.. Google Search vs Windows Live Search)
-Email (Gmail vs. Windows Live Mail and previously)
You’re right in the sense that Google doesn’t provide nearly as diverse of portfolio of desktop apps…yet. However, it was just a few short years ago when the idea of a Google that gave users access to IM, email, web-based document editing, picture storage, social networking services, etc. was nigh unthinkable.
December 27, 2007
(This is just a post comment.)
Google isn’t trying to dominate desktop applications- its trying to dominate Web Applications, which, in one perspective, can one day replace the desktop all together.
The philosophy behind such an idea is that with Web Apps, all your data goes everywhere a computer is. It is, after all, online. Right now, there even exists online desktops and other apps.
As far as I can see, Google provides some of the best and well worked Web Apps, from their e-mail to search services to web docs.
But, it is getting out of hand. Google is losing sight of what made it a grand name … Google Search. While others are striving to better their algorithms (Live, Yahoo!, Ask), Google is buying this and that. Look at YouTube and others … Bought for millions.
Well, what can we do about it ? Google does what they think is best. What I do like, however, is that all this stuff is pressuring Microsoft to finally become innovative again. Apple, Google, Mozilla, Linux (its various distros), are finally stepping up their game. And as a result of Smith’s philosophy, Microsoft will now strive to make better and superior products.
Finally, OneCare has gotten better and more practical. Microsoft continues to give support for XP, while frantically fixing Vista. Office 2007 SP1 has turned out nicely. IE8 now complies with the Acid2 “standards.” Microsoft certainly is trying, but they need to work harder. I’ll interested to see how Vienna/7 comes out- MiniWin sounds like its gonna make XP AND VISTA machines fly …
March 13, 2008
Uh, I hate to tell you who is funding work in Pidgin… Google.
I’m sure you’ll see support for all your calling functions eventually.
-=drj
I use Pidgin currently and like it better than Trillian. I would use Google like you say, but I also have Yahoo IM and MSN accounts. Are there any other programs out there than Pidgin and Trillian?
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