miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 Hey guys, [tab][/tab]For those who're using Gmail you might find that a new link called Chats with an associate Google Talk icon has popped up all of a sudden - right below your Inbox & Starred links on the left. Clicking on the link brought me to a page which says: Get Google Talk so you can chat and make free voice calls with friends. Your Google Talk chat history can be automatically saved right here in your Gmail account. Also coming soon: chat in Gmail! Apparently you'll be able to talk to your friends right from Gmail in your browser window - more of the new supercharged AJAX I believe. Here's a quick pic of their planned layout: Incidentally - can it coincidence or whatever - the moment I found this new feature, a news report from Reuters suddenly popped up in my Google Desktop news feed window. It goes like... Google puts instant message service inside e-mail By Eric Auchard SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Google Inc. will introduce over the coming weeks a simpler way for Google users to conduct instant message chats from inside a Web browser window, alongside their e-mail, the company said on Monday. Google, which is known for its simple way of searching the Web, is hoping that by embedding new instant messaging software it calls "Gmail Chat" into its existing e-mail service it can differentiate itself in a crowded market it was late to join. The Mountain View, California-based company is struggling to stand out in an entrenched field. Instant messaging was pioneered by America Online more than a decade ago. It, Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp. now have tens of millions of users each. Google is fixing a decade-old technical divide between the generic Web browser that can check e-mail, search the Web or perform a host of other activities, and separate software used to converse in quick back-and-forth messages with buddies. Source: http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ From the layout picture, I'd say it looks quite good - although am waiting to actually test it out and then give my comments about it. But considering their current product lineup and the individual quality of each product - I'd say, we shouldn't have any reasons to complain. Any comments ?? m^e Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 Oh cool - now all of a sudden they've a new big notice up on the first(login) page too. Here's the screenshot: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pyost 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 Wow, this is really great. Another thing why GTalk is better than MSN Messenger.I've always had problem with storing my conversation histories because MSN Messenger has a limit, so I have a few files from the same contact. This way we won't have to worry about that, GMail will :)As for the integrated GTalk messenger, that's also great, because that way it will make more people use it. A friend of mine until lately had Windows 98 (lol) installed at his home. Somehow he could use GTalk because Windows 98 wasn't supported (that's a minus). What I'm sauing is that there are still people that somehow aren't able to use the best messaging service available - free, small and simple. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
abhiram 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 This is really cool. I wonder how google is able to make such really neat improvements in their services. I mean, you'd think that since Yahoo! and MSN have been around much longer than Google, they'd have shown some improvements in their features. Google must really be having some big brains working for it. GTalk in a browser will be great since I'm in Linux and can't use GTalk. It'll be just like Meebo. For those who don't know what Meebo is, it's a webpage that lets you login directly to yahoo messenger, msn, icq directly in a browser window. It works just like your regular messenger client.But is this leading somewhere else? No one puts a whole lot of effort just to give something out for free. Are they gonna start charging us all of a sudden?//edit: My bad ... Meebo already allows you to login to GTalk. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 I don't think they'll start charging all of a sudden. If they do that - it'll be a real bad move. They'd loose out on a HUGE client base immediately.Think of it - they're earning like hell through Adwords and Adsense (am sure for every click that you earn - they earn a good percentage more than you do)... Those two are massively successful programs. Plus they get to show the same in your gmail account too.Any idea what are their other sources of income ?? Whatever be it - they're making a tidy sum out of it, so that they can keep this service running. This whole Gmail-Gtalk issue is just a facade - a well-done one at that too - to draw in as many people into it as they can.BTW - there are some brilliant Indian brains working in Google. A bunch of my friends who were hardcore coders starting from school days are working for Google.. They all graduated from Stanford, Cornell, CMU etc and got inducted into Google.. So no wonder these neat stuff just keep flowing in and in and in..... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hraefn 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 I just noticed this myself, too. Now, I don't use Google Talk or any kind of IM service, but being a hardcore Gmail user, this tasty little morsel looks quite intriguing. I'm actually breathlessly waiting for the unveiling of the soon-to-come in-browser Gchat feature. I might even try it out when this feature debuts. =^^= I know how marketing strategies can sometimes hype things up so much that the expectations are much bigger than the actual product, but hey, this is Google! Like m^e said, they have an impressive track record when it comes to their products. I wouldn't be surprised if this GTalk/Gmail integration turns out be exactly like their makers promised. To tell the truth, I would be surprised if it isn't exactly like they promised. I've just had a looksee at the FAQ for this upcoming feature (they already have FAQs for this?), and if it's accurate, then the new Gmail Chat would have some pretty handy features. Applying Google's powerful search functions to saved chat conversations would be a big help (really handy if you've had an especially heavy brainstorming session and you just couldn't remember the details of an idea that was mentioned in passing). What I particularly like, though, is the option to go off the record, which, I assume, is when both parties agree not to save the chat conversations. Am I right in guessing that this is a standard feature of the Google Talk client? If so, then I'm glad they're keeping it. If there is one feature that I truly want to see become a reality, it would be the ability to conference call (or chat, rather) using Gmail Chat. Sadly, Google hasn't enabled such a feature, though I find it heartening to know that they were aware enough of the demand for conference chats (or calls =^^=) to write a Help Center article about it. On the topic of Google's income sources, I did a quick check and found out that they rely solely on their ad revenues. To quote: If Google is in danger of over-diversifying its product range, its source of income remains largely one-dimensional - and therefore potentially vulnerable. Google makes its money from advertising. source Risky business that, relying solely on ad income (though I imagine that stocks also play a minor role). But apparently they're doing well with it, if the fact that they netted $1.5 billion during July-Sept quarter of 2005 says anything. According to the article, at last count, Google was worth around $140 billion, and most of that from ads. No wonder Bill Gates is worried. =^^= Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
McGuy 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 I was just reading about this on Digg, Slashdot and TechCrunch, Newsvine, everywheres running this story. I can tell this is going to be big. I've got to confess: i'm a sinner to the name Google. I have not yet downloaded Google Talk. Now I think i'll be using this online version quite alot. Its just a shame no one uses it really, but I suppose this will give it a huge boost in popularity and people will start using it. I just hope theres a disable option, as maybe some people don't want people constantly being able to message them, eh? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
evion 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 Can you believe it? Gmail has stunned us yet again with another amazing tool. They've incorporated instant messaging within the browser itself! And yes i know there are already such things as AIM's AIM Express but this is special due to the fact that there's no special plugins required (i think) and all you need is an up to date browser. For FireFox users all you need is a 1.0 version or higher browser and IE users must use a 6.0 version or higher browser.This latest addition to Gmail will i believe help those school kids out there chat instantly with friends without downloading anything and no teacher will suspect the word "Gmail" on the minimized window anything suspicious. (Hint: Tell the teacher you're saving your work to your email so you can work on it more at home XD) Yet if you have "AIM Express" its off to the administrators for you! At the moment, Gmail's chat feature doesn't allow chatrooms or anything like its "Google Chat" program, but it's said this is just the beginning and more additions will come shortly in time.Just to give ya'll and update, Gmail's storage is up to 2692mb now. By this year's end it should be up to 3gb!! I don't know what's keeping all my friends from joining gmail, choosing AIM instead. Even if suddenly Gmail becomes "officially" released and you have to pay for it (IF!!) I'll definitely pay for it. What i would like for gmail to do though, is have this little tool where you can obtain emails received from other email hosts. (Like hotmail or yahoo) that way i don't have to check all of them. So what do you think? Anyone's got the feature yet? I know i haven't. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
evion 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 Sorry for double posting but the source from where you could read up more on is here: https://support.google.com/chat/answer/161934?hl=en Any mods care to help me join this up with the top post? Gladly appreciate it! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sagech 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 Amazing... Google has always been innovative. That is why I like them! I've always used Gmail from the moment they offered their huge storage capacity and the search function until now. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
xboxrulz1405241485 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 Google also earns money through stock prices. The more popular you are, on the market, your stock price will go higher automatically since more people want to invest in you. Therefore, you earn more money in the long run. That's why Google is so rich now.It will be a bad move if they start charging people.I think this "Web Messenger" idea is a great idea! It'll work on all operating systems !xboxrulz Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
szupie 0 Report post Posted February 7, 2006 Heh, I just read about this in one of the Google Alerts about Google.I like how it'll save the conversations to the mailbox. The computer I'm using is shared between my family, so it's hard to keep the logs in a secret, yet easily accessable place. I wonder if Google Talk (the downloadable one, not Gmail Chat) will also save the logs online. It currently doesn't support logging at all, so I hope that it'll do the same thing as Gmail Chat on its next update (cool, then I'll get to make use of my Google Updater).My friend has Windows 98, and he can't install Google Talk, so it'll be good news to him once Gmail Chat is released. Then I'll be able to chat with him on the Jabber network, and not have to use MSN messenger. He gets annoying and floods me a lot of the times, and MSN messenger's notification and "buzzers/screen shakers" makes it even worse. Soon, he'll be able to flood me with Gmail Chat. :)I don't like the layout in those screenshots. The contacts list would push my Labels box too far down. And the Chat box would be too low to be seen. If I pop the chat out, it'll take more memory and also take the space in my taskbar. I hope the layout is customizable, like how Personalized Homepage is.P.S. MS^E, why is the screenshot you provided different than the one Google gives? Yours says "Chats Link Callout" "Mole Callout" and, instead of "Chat History" and "Chat". Was your screenshot an older one, or a localized version? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
miCRoSCoPiC^eaRthLinG 0 Report post Posted February 8, 2006 I used Google Talk to chat with Trekkie last night - and it promptly stored my log in my gmail inbox under the new Chats section. Jolly cool. This way your chat conversations are available worldwide and not restricted to the machine on which you're using the messenger. WAY TO GO GOOGLE This was a MUCH NEEDED feature. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
szupie 0 Report post Posted February 8, 2006 Oh, I see you've merged the two topics together. That's why it was expanded to the second page.Yeah, I just found out that logging works with Google Talk too. But since Google Talk didn't update itself since Jan 28, it must be getting the code from Google's servers using AJAX or something. If someone were able to hack the Google server, they would be able to easily mess up our computers (n mak dem xplode!!! ). But hacking into Google would be the hard part. Unless it was someone inside Google... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Jeigh1405241495 0 Report post Posted February 8, 2006 Should be pretty interesting to see how this works out. I can't see me using it much, since none of my friends switched to using gtalk as it is, but I assume I'll make some use of it. Cool concept nonetheless and always good when a company innovates Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
