Google Talk
Google Talk
Nov 11
I was reading an article on the new iPhone 2.2 updates, and something caught my eye. The messenger application had all of the standards (AIM, Yahoo!, ICQ and Google Talk). Nothing seemed out of place, nothing new or innovative, which is exactly what jumped out at me.
I remember first hearing about Google Talk a year or two ago, downloading the client, and quickly forgetting about it. I then remember having it appear in my GMail sidebar, and finding it useful to send a chat to someone who was online rather than emailing them. I don’t remember the time where that matter-of-convenience feeling moulded into a ‘let’s see who is on GTalk’ feeling.
Sure I use AIM at home, Yahoo! for work, Trillian and Digsby interchangeably to keep up to date on all of the people I need to communicate with or spam to check out my latest blog post. But why is GTalk now my favorite of the bunch? I think it has come down to a few key reasons.
1. Gotcha! moments: When you’re looking for someone on AIM, and they’re set to invisible or the type not to stay online for more than a brief moment, you can always seem to catch someone checking their emails. It’s more of an honest moment, where you will get a genuine response from a person. It may be that they are sipping on some coffee, playing catchup with their inbox, and ready to head out the door, willing to take a brief second to say what needs to be said and go. Maybe it’s because they’re not using a standalone chat client at the time and their buddy list is smaller, or maybe it’s because of reason 2.
2. Real Friends: My AIM buddy list is cluttered with kids from high school, college, internships, enemies, unknowns, CL NSA’s… but my GTalk list is short and sweet. Those whom I email often, or at least email enough to be an acquaintance. These are the real people that matter in my real or online life. Although the list is growing as more people are starting to use IM client aggregator and GMail is getting more willing users to turn on chat, I still know the people on that list well enough to want to talk to them.
3. Works With G1: So far it’s the only reliable chat service on the G1. The built-in AIM chat is buggy and disconnects often. Meebo’s client shuts off when it isn’t open on top of other applications, or doesn’t run well in the background as it should. GTalk works, notifies me of new conversations, and did I mention it works? This may be one of those biased points that comes with the ownership of a G1, like an iPod owner saying that iTunes is the best music app out there, but it’s a point worth making.