No talking allowed with the new Google ‘Talk’ gadget

March 19, 2007
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I’ve seen a lot of buzz about the new GoogleTalk gadget that can be placed on your personalized Google home page.

As best I can tell, this is an IM-only tool — there is no ‘talking’ involved (no mic or headset required). Somewhat misleading, if you ask me.

I actually find it interesting that Google defines their GoogleTalk service as an instant messaging service whereas Skype is clearly seen as a voice-commications tool first, and IM second. Clicking a person on Skype, by default, initiates a call, not an IM.

I think this apparently subtle difference is very telling.

2 Responses to No talking allowed with the new Google ‘Talk’ gadget

  1. stan on March 22, 2007 at 12:27 pm

    Yes, that is different, but for all the IMs, not only text chat and VoIP have IMs, but also can be mini-RSS reader, alert and track, like Anothr’s Skype/gtalk RSS service.

  2. vic on April 24, 2007 at 6:15 am

    You’re right about the name. It’s misleading to put "talk" into the name when you don’t offer a VoIP service, like Skype.

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