Overview of Google Talk
I’ve just downloaded Google talk and have started the process of getting it rolling. You can view it here:
Google Talk
Jennifer Laycock gives a nice overview of the service here:
Google Launches Google Talk
And here is a pretty thorough rundown of Google Talk features. And it also gives a great side-by-side comparison of all the different instant messaging services. That’s quite handy:
New Google Talk Offers Instant Messaging
Right now there are a lot restrictions on the kind of system that is needed: you need Windows 2000, Windows XP (Home & Pro), or Windows Server 2003.
And actually, the services are quite limited at this point.
But the buzz on this thing is amazing. I came to work today and found an invitation to join by a friend of mine in Chicago. I don’t really know how Google does it, but they have some magic gift with word-of-mouth advertising.
I get the sense that Google is pushing this more as a voice over IP service than a standard instant messenger. I’ve got my microphone set up and I’ve tested it with a couple people. The service works really well.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Google spending more time making this compatible with other VOIP services.
I’m so glad I’m not in the phone business these days. We, as consumers, continue to get more and more reasons to leave our standard telcos. It will be hard leaving all that great customer service.