I downloaded Google Talk yesterday and installed the client on my WinXP laptop and Win2000 machine at work.  My first impression: it’s way cool.

It’s cool because of that straightforward Google interface and the

lightning-fast transmission of messages.  You don’t get any bells

or whistles like Yahoo Messenger has (i.e. SMS, conferencing, etc.),

but right now, it’s the speed that wows me.

What else comes with Google Talk (or GTalk, as it’s come to be known):

• GTalk-to-GTalk VoIP


• Seamless integration with Gmail for contacts and mail
  


• Gmail notifier

The first thing you will notice upon installation is that you get

a blank screen if you don’t have any contacts yet.  But adding

friends won’t be a problem since you have the

option of adding or inviting anyone from your Gmail address book. 

It’s

as simple as a click on a button, and all your Gmail contacts appear,

and are searchable

through the search bar on top of the contact list.  If a friend

has a

Gmail address, then an invitation email is automatically sent (or if

already a GTalk member, an IM invitation).  If non-Gmail, then a

Gmail

invite is automatically sent (and with a corresponding deduction from

your invite allocation).

The GTalk client is a very small application, when compared to most

other IM clients, at about 900 kilobytes.  Sad thing, though, is

that it works only on Windows XP, 2000 or 2003.  No versions for

older editions of Windows, nor other OSes yet, at this time.  But

according to the GTalk website, Mac and Linux users can use GTalk with iChat and GAIM, respectively, since it uses the Jabber protocol.  Doesn’t work on the Mac I use at the office, though, for some reasons.

I’ve been chatting with Abe of Yugatech, and he says the VoIP is very good–better than Skype even.  Now I’m all praises for Skype, with the great voice quality–even

on dialup–but if GTalk can do it better, then it may as well be a

Skype-killer as well.  After all, Google has already poised itself

as a giant in the Internet world, and I guess there’s no stopping it

from getting into all aspects of our lives.  They’re everywhere

nowadays, if you will notice.  I hope they stick to their “do business without doing evil” motto.  If they do end up with world domination, then they’d better be the good guys.

Incidentally, news has been floating around that Google has already opened its Gmail service to the public,

i.e. it’s no longer by-invitation only (the artificial demand generated

by which, I believe Google was greatly able to capitalized on).  But

actually, what’s open to the public is a Google Account, which you can

use to personalize your Google homepage content.  It’s pretty cool,

actuallly.  Try logging in to http:/www.google.com/ig and you can play around with the content as if they were windows–yes you can drag and drop them to sort (using AJAX–I’ll write about this later on).

To summarize:

What’s good:

• Simple, clean interface


• Very easy to add contacts from Gmail
  


• Great VoIP quality


• As with all other Google services, it’s free!
  

What’s not-so-good:

• Client is still limited to certain Windows versions


• I had problems connecting from other Jabber-compatible clients


• No means to organize contacts


• Gmail is not yet open to all
  

My wishlist:

• A few other features would be appreciated–like SMS and mobile capability


• In fact, I’d love to see Gmail-over-WAP (much like Yahoo Mail)


• Categories!


• A Mac-native client (the Mac YM client looks cool)


• Gtalk-to-Plain Old Telephone Service (like Skypeout)
  

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