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| Moderated by: Saida.M, safetyblitz, Raven, Miss Brighter Days, LadyDay, Kunjufu, Kibibi, Happiness, Dillinger, Breadfruit, Backatya |
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LadyDay
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| Joined: | Thursday October 2nd, 2003 |
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Posted: Wednesday August 24th, 2005 16:59 |
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/4180182.stm
Google sets tongues wagging with Talk
By Mark Ward
BBC News website technology correspondent 
Google is arriving late into the net talk businessSearch giant Google has sent an instant message to its rivals with the launch of its Talk service.
Unveiled on 24 August, the Google Talk system unites net telephony with an instant messaging network and builds on the Gmail e-mail service that was released in March 2004.
At first glance, a combined instant messaging/net phone system is a strange service to launch mainly because Google's rivals are so far ahead in terms of users and experience.
According to figures gathered by ComScore Media Metrix, America Online has more than 40 million users on its AIM and ICQ instant messaging networks. Yahoo has 20 million users and MSN Messenger has 14 million. Some of these services have been operating for more than a decade.
On net telephony, too, Google has a mountain to climb. The biggest net telephone (or voice over IP) service is run by Skype which currently claims to have 51 million users.
One of the ways that Yahoo Broadband in Japan won customers was by bundling net telephony with the net access service.
Google may have a leading share of the search market but it is a minnow when it comes to these two technologies.
Opening up
What it hopes will help attract users to its instant messaging system is its offer of compatibility with the relatively closed networks of its rivals.
AOL, MSN and Yahoo try to ensure that their users talk to no others simply because they fear that opening up their networks will dilute their hold and reduce the amount of cash they can generate from all these people.
 We are going to try to be the first in the world to connect everyone to everyone 
Georges Harik, Google
Google starts online talk service
Google tool watches as you work Although users can connect to other networks via more open clients, they typically lose some of the features, such as webcams and audio, that work on pure IM networks.
By contrast, Google Talk is based on an open technology called Jabber which was created to help different networks talk to each other.
Georges Harik, director of new products at Google, hinted that this was its aim when the Talk service was unveiled.
"We are going to try to be the first in the world to connect everyone to everyone," he said.
However, Google Talk does not yet use these features of Jabber and, for the moment, is as closed as any other network. Similarly, its net telephone service currently works only with Google's Desktop Search program.
On net telephony services, it also has a long way to go to catch up with rivals not least because managing a system that can provide good quality phone calls is very different to letting people scour a database with search queries.
Portability key
But there is method to Google's seeming madness. It is clear that Google is trying to build a cluster of programs that effectively turns the net into an operating system - just like Windows does for personal computers.
Google wants to turn its collection of services and add-on programs such as the Desktop Search sidebar into a helper that users can turn to no matter what they want to do.
Google's Desktop Search has mutated from simple search software into a holder for lots of small applications that users can access as long as they have access to a web browser.
Both the instant messaging and net telephony services work via the floating Sidebar of Google Desktop Search.
These developments also make sense of all the rumours floating around about the creation of a Google browser.
As web watcher Jason Kottke points out, it is clear that this ability to get at your stuff and use it where ever you are is becoming increasingly important to more people. It is portability rather than being tied to a particular computer that is important.
As he also points out, it is clear that Google rivals such as Microsoft, Yahoo and Apple are pushing toward the same goal.
The reason they want to get people using their system rather than a rival's is simply because that control means they can get more advertising cash from them.
Yahoo recently bought Konfabulator which specialises in making software that can be used in lots of different web browsers.
Also, both Google and Yahoo are keen to open up the coding interfaces to their core systems and services so that the others can create useful ways to use them.
Net telephony service Skype has announced its intention to open up its network in a similar way, too.
The time for talk is over, now we have to watch the action
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LadyDay
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| Joined: | Thursday October 2nd, 2003 |
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Posted: Wednesday August 24th, 2005 17:00 |
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Google starts online talk service
Google is looking to take on more established rivalsGoogle, the world's most used search engine, is set to take on online voice and instant messaging service providers such as Skype, Microsoft and Yahoo.
The firm has released a free service called Google Talk, which lets e-mail account holders talk to each other via a PC, microphone and speakers.
There had been speculation that Google would use the cash from a $4bn share sale to buy its way into the market.
Instead, Google promised to try to make Talk work with other firms' offerings.
Google Talk will also offer instant messaging, but unlike other services such as Skype or Vonage it will not let users make calls to land lines or mobile phones.
'Missing piece'
Demand for online phone services is expected to surge in coming years as consumers look for cheaper ways of making calls and take advantage of quicker internet connections.
Google is looking at different ways of boosting its revenues, and last year started offering a free e-mail service to a limited number of users - although they are now allowed to invite an effectively unlimited number of people to join as well.
It makes money from the e-mail service, called Gmail, by placing small adverts along messages that are relevant to what is being discussed.
Similarly, earlier this week the firm launched an updated version of a tool to search PC hard drives, which ties in closely with its online search engine.
Google Talk does not carry adverts, but Google says it hopes it will drive people to sign up for Gmail.
"This is a missing piece in Google's larger strategy as they emerge to become a bigger internet media player," said Greg Sterling, an analyst at the Kelsey Group.
Google Talk's software will be based on an open standard, meaning the firm will allow its technology to be integrated into other websites and applications.
Google hopes that will encourage companies and individuals to expand its service and tailor it to better suit their needs.
Catch up
It also wants to offer users the ability to talk to people on other providers, something that some rivals with closed systems cannot do at present.
Analysts warned, however, that Google had a lot of ground to make up on its rivals such as Yahoo, AOL and Microsoft, which already have millions of signed up users.
A free trial version of Google Talk can be found at: http://www.google.com/talk/.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4179322.stm
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I am too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!
Think outside of the box...Think in spirit
Act as if it were impossible to fail!!!
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
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dexxtreme
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| Joined: | Sunday May 15th, 2005 |
| Location: | Tampa, Florida USA |
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Posted: Thursday August 25th, 2005 01:00 |
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It's funny. You need a gmail account to use Google Talk. I *just* got a gmail address yesterday. (Been too lazy to beg for an invite.) Only took me like a year to do it... lol
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safetyblitz
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| Joined: | Thursday January 20th, 2005 |
| Location: | Memphis 10, Tennessee USA |
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Posted: Thursday August 25th, 2005 02:56 |
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Well if anyone needs one just send me a private message on here with your email address and I will hook you up.
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MCP
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| Joined: | Thursday October 21st, 2004 |
| Location: | London, United Kingdom |
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Posted: Thursday August 25th, 2005 18:11 |
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Before Google made this announcement I was using a program called 'Skype', which is totally free. if anyone is interested this program could be found here. http://www.skype.com/
For the Google talk facility
If anyone would like a gmail address, please PM with your email address and one would be sent out to whoever wants one.
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LadyDay
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| Joined: | Thursday October 2nd, 2003 |
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Posted: Friday August 26th, 2005 17:23 |
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| yeah i have my g-mail a/c. i have had it for say a year or so. maybe i need to start using it more often.
____________________
I am too blessed to be stressed and too anointed to be disappointed!
Think outside of the box...Think in spirit
Act as if it were impossible to fail!!!
____________________
www.blacksearch.co.uk - Helping to promote Black African and Caribbean Websites
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