REVIEW: Google Talk

I’ll have to give this a try, I’m wondering how it compares to skype.
skype is very clear when it works. But I have lots is issues getting it to work correctly.

Google’s new instant messenger, Google Talk, is clean, exceptionally
lightweight, free of feature glut, and simple to use. (Congratulations to our Download Squad blog which published the
first review.) the program download is
exceptionally quick, and installation is as transparent and effortless as they come. Google Talk is fairly focused on
Gmail, although you don’t need a Gmail account to use it. If you do have Gmail, you’ll see Google Talk display a
summary of unread messages in your Inbox when you first open the chat program, and it will continue notifying you as
emails come in. Clicking the Inbox link opens Gmail. When chatting, clicking an Email button opens Gmail to a Compose
screen addressed to your chat partner. You can add chat friends directly from the Gmail contacts list, and, in fact,
you can add you entire Gmail contacts list with one click. (Thankfully, you are not inviting everyone on your contact
list to be a Google Talk friend when you perform that one-click addition. You are merely listing them in Google Talk,
ready to be invited one by one.)


Adding chat friends is a two-click operation. You can assign a tagline to your name, as in other programs. when
chatting, limited rich text is available via ASCII symbology; *asterisks* deliver bold, and _underscored_ words become
italicized. Typed links are live.

Missing are the many encumbrances that bog down the competing IM experiences; Google’s debut entry in this field is
characteristically breezy and uncluttered. There is no splash panel with news; no stock tabs or online radio. There
is voice chatting, and Google has indicated to us that groups audio conferences and audio recording are on the
radar.

Sometimes simplicity is ineffectual, as with the first iteration of Google’s personalized home page. Not so here.
Google Talk hits a sweet spot of instant usability, with just the right features for now and plenty of room to
evolve.

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