Google Talk

For the word game, see Google Talk (game)

Google Talk Software

Google Talk Google Talk Beta
Developer(s)	Google
Stable release	1.0.0.66 / August 31, 2005
Operating system	Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows Server 2003
Type	Instant messenger
License	Proprietary freeware [1]
Website	talk.google.com

Google Talk logo

Google Talk logo

Google Talk is a service developed by Google for instant messaging (IM) that also allows for PC to PC audio conversations ^[2]. Google Talk beta was released on August 24, 2005 and consists of both a service and a client used to connect to the service. Unlike some other instant messaging services, Google Talk uses an open protocol (Jabber) for the IM part and it encourages the use of clients other than their own in connecting to the Google Talk service.

As of the launch date, the Google Talk client is available only for Windows (2000, XP, Server 2003); users of other operating systems are provided with instructions for various popular Jabber clients, such as Psi or Miranda IM for Microsoft Windows and below, iChat or Adium for Mac OS X and Gaim for Linux. However, any program capable of using the Jabber protocol is sufficient, although the voice over IP service only works with the Google client. Google claims they will release a specification for the voice extension in the near future.

History

The idea of a Jabber-based Google IM service was proposed by Apple-X on August 22 2004. Exactly one year later, after the rumor of a Google-branded "communications tool" service had been reported by the New York Times [3] and detailed by the Los Angeles Times [4] on August 22 2005, the subdomain talk.google.com was found to have an active Jabber server [5]. Two methods of logging into the server were discovered soon after and the ensuing response by eager bloggers revealed to numerous others how to login before the official release by Google. In the evening of August 23, many logged-in users using port 5222 to connect were disconnected and unable to log back in. Users using port 5223 to connect were still able to log in, and at 04:12:52 A.M. UTC those users received a broadcast instant message from gmail.com, an apparently official username used by Google to communicate with their user base, that stated "The broken link has been fixed. Thanks for being our first users!" Port 5222-connectivity was found to have been re-enabled.

Technical

File:Google Talk Screenshot.png

Google Talk website

Google has announced that a major goal of the Google Talk service is interoperability. Google Talk uses Jabber and XMPP to provide real-time extensible messaging and presence events, including offline messaging (though only through non-Google clients like Adium). However, at this time, Google Talk, unlike most Jabber servers, does not permit server-to-server communications, and as such, users of Google Talk cannot talk to users of other Jabber servers.

Currently, the service is open to anyone with a Gmail account, but the Google team have assured its users that they are "working on it" so that eventually anyone can use it. There are plans to federate Google Talk with alternative Voice over IP services EarthLink and SIPphone, but there not yet any details on when such federation might be completed.

Google Talk does not encrypt the Jabber stream, instead using an undocumented non standard way of authenticating to the service, retrieving a token from a secure web server. Other clients than Googles own are required to secure their streams with TLS before sending the password, causing them to stay encrypted throughout the whole session. Google claims that all messages (text and voice) will be encrypted in future releases^[6].

Easter egg

File:GoogleTalkAboutWindow.png

Easter egg in the about window

The About window of Google Talk contains a barely visible coded message in light gray font that reads play 23 21 13 16 21 19 . 7 1 13 5. Turning the numbers into corresponding letters of the alphabet where a=1 and z=26, then the message reads play wumpus.game. This is a reference to Hunt the Wumpus which could be played in Google Talk. If you added wumpus.game@gmail.com to your buddy list and sent it a text message of "play" the game would start. However, during the day of August 24th it was online sporadically. Since then, the game has been offline - where it is under the "invited" status. This may be due to a large number of queries to the bot causing it to crash.

Tips

• You can change the font size by focusing your mouse cursor either on the message window or input box, holding the control key down, and spinning the scroll wheel.
• Use the keyboard: Pressing Tab cycles through conversations in each stack and the main window. Ctrl+Tab or Shift+Tab cycles backwards.
• When you see a message notification, you can right click it to close it without focusing the conversation window.
• To make something bold, you must place an asterisk before and after the area you want to bold: *example* turns to example
• If you want to italicize something, you must place underscores around the area you want to italicize: _example_ turns to example
• Between one set of '*'s or '_'s, you can have up to and including 100 characters. If you exceed this number of characters, the effect will not take place and you will get normal text with the * or _ symbols visible at either end
• Typing a smiley like :) and :D in an IM window will make it turn bold blue like: :) and :D.

These tips are a feature of the Google client and not Jabber in general. They will not work with all third party clients.

Criticism, reviews, and bugs

Critics of the new service have pointed out that contrary to Gmail's philosophy of storing all information with over two gigabytes of storage, Google's own client will not log more than 20 lines of text chat. In addition, Google Talk does not allow users to search through their past conversation; this is interesting considering that Google specializes in searching. This was one of the notable features of Gmail that made it stand out over other email services.

Search Engine Watch^[7] also has argued that the product lacks the "wow" factor associated with the unveiling of other Google products like Gmail or Google Maps. In addition they cite the fact that Google Talk only allows PC to PC voice chat, not Voice over IP. Several critics have begun calling the product "underwhelming," though others predict various additional (impressive) features in the future of Google Talk.

There have also been several bugs reported in the Windows client for Google Talk, including e-mail message-notification unreliability, taskbar notification problems during conversations with more than one contact, and tab-sizing problems. Also it appears that using the escape key to close chat windows does not work if the window has been open for a moderate amount of time.

Many people would like to see server-to-server communication enabled, to make Google Talk part of the larger Jabber network. There is also no conference or chat room feature, meaning that users can talk to only one person at a time.

Many critics, while noting its lack of features, are refreshed at the clean look as compared with other instant messengers. This clean look is consistent with many of Google's current projects, from its home page to its mapping service.

Future releases

Google reports (as do most companies who release betas or for PR purposes) that they are working on adding new features, and many clues found within Google Talk's Privacy Policy suggest Google Talk will support file transfers. ^[8] Google has a good track record of following up on user suggestions in their Gmail product. Unlike with Gmail, Google is not disclosing what features they are working on in general, although an FAQ states that they are working on adding rich text formatting features. (Google's public statement is that you cannot change the formatting in your instant messages. This isn't true.)

See also

• List of Google tools and services
• List of instant messengers
• Comparison of instant messengers

References

• ^ Search Engine Watch review of Google Talk

External links

• Official Google Talk website
• Test drive of Google talk
• Google Talk Interoperability Newsgroup
• Google Talk Newsgroup
• Report: Google plans IM system and Google adds IM, voice messaging - Two CNN stories before and after Google Talk is released
• Google Talk on your Treo (or other Palm device) via treo Addicts

Tweaks/Hidden features

• Google Talk tweaks
• More Google Talk tweaks
• Hidden debug dialog