Plan for world domination on track
Google continues to take over the internet today with the release of Google Talk, their entry into the IM world. In true Google fashion, the native client is a minimalized and uncomplicated interface that only stresses the message and voice chat features. Also in true Google fashion, the IM network is based on the open Jabber protocol. What does that mean? That means third party clients are free and open to use the Google Talk network. That’s impressive that they would do that from the starting line. Most IM networks still aren’t technically open, and most 3rd party clients only have access to them because of the programmers’ hacking.
Google takes it a step further: they advertise the availability to use third party clients and will even tell you how to set it up. Very cool. However, to try the service, it requires a GMail account. I avoided getting a GMail account for a long time, but I wanted to try out the IM service, so I finally cracked and joined the herd. Therefore, you can find me on Google Talk at chucksplatt at gmail dot com.
Oh, when I signed up for my GMail account, the initial suggested username was hnguyenenator@gmail.com. Funny. When I tried hung.nguyen@gmail.com, they said it was taken (no surprise) but they offered some alternatives which were amusing. My favorite? nguyennecessary@gmail.com