https://mail.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?ctx=gmail&answer=61024
http://vnoel.wordpress.com/2007/12/04/log-on-aim-from-gmail-chat/

I also have some screen capture showing the option on a gmail account

http://www.zorgloob.com/uploaded_images/aim-777740.png

http://www.zorgloob.com/uploaded_images/aim2-715676.png

<< You'll first need to sign in to Gmail chat. If you're not already signed in, just click Sign in to chat from your Quick Contacts section, in the left margin of your Gmail account. If you don't see Quick Contacts, make sure that standard with chat is selected as your Gmail view, at the very bottom of your page.

Once you're signed in, just click the down arrow next to your status message and select Sign in to AIM. If this is your first time connecting, you'll be prompted to enter your AIM screen name and password. Click Connect to continue.

Some of your AIM buddies will appear in your Quick Contacts list, and the rest are accessible from the Search, Add, or Invite field. Just click a contact to initiate a chat session. >>

Is this another one of those features hitting certain accounts at first before expanding to every user?

<<AIM in Gmail is not a Google Talk and AIM federation; it's the ability to sign in to your AIM messaging account from Gmail. Gmail uses Open AIM to provide this feature.>>

Is that what the AIM-Gtalk deal was all about? Allowing Google to use publicly available protocol with a 100x100px AIM logo?

You wrote it yourself: "AIM in Gmail is not a Google Talk and AIM federation"

So Dan was right..

Nice find Dan!! (And Luka also of course :P)

Hope they will soon add msn and icq... shouldn't be too hard now

<< Is this another one of those features hitting certain accounts at first before expanding to every user? >>

I'm afraid so..
I don't have it yet..

I guess it's likely that it's a slow rollout cause as opposed to the colored labels, this is a big one in terms of increased traffic/ scalability

WooHoo! I got it! I was waiting for this for so long!

I logged out then back in and it was there! :)

II would prefer ICQ

I don't know anybody who uses AIM .. I agree with hebbet, it is nice to have integration, but ICQ (which does use a similar protocol?) would have been much better.
Also, the fact that you still have to use your AIM name is a kind of messy integration ..

hebbet, plug in your ICQ # and password, should work that way.

Does anyone have tested ICQ login ? I know that AIM and ICQ work very good together...

They don't appear in you contact list

Google now released official blog posts on this:

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/gmail-3-aim.html
http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/gmail-chat-aim-crazy-delicious.html

[Comment edit: first link fixed, see Tony's comment...]

It's already possible to use AIM, ICQ, MSN, IRC from GMail! All you have to do is install Psi and set up transports for your preferred service. Once set up the transport also works from GMail's WebClient, the TalkGadget and also GTalk-Client.
I guess the AIM-connectivity now introduced is working with Jabber's Transports as well...

How about a client update?

You can use pidgin also to set up transports... And yes it works very good.

The AIM in Gmail use directly AIM protocol and not transport.

Luka, Dirk B.: Yeah, that's what I've done (the Psi trick). I'm not sure I'll find this particularly useful, though if they add Yahoo! and .NET I could ditch the Jabber transports altogether.

Ben Allen: Not for over a year so far. I wish they'd keep on top of their software.

Philipp: Thanks for the links! My Reader hasn't picked those posts up yet...

Philipp, wow, why were you using the AIM desktop client in the first place? Pidgin is only one example but it supports XMPP, GTalk, MSN, Yahoo, IRC, ICQ, QQ, Bonjour, and more...

<<Also, the fact that you still have to use your AIM name is a kind of messy integration ..>>
Agreed. I'm a little disappointed that this is all we get. What would be ideal would be for Google to convince AOL to adopt XMPP!!!

DPic: I'd also have liked the ability to just use AIM without a separate account, but since I already have AIM integrated with Google Talk using the transport trick, it would be messy. And yes, I now use Pidgin. ;)

I'm surprised Google hasn't purchased Meebo yet and integrated their technology directly into Gmail.

I have it, It works really well, loveitloveitloveit, roll on te rest of them...

On mine between "Settings" and "Help" there is a link "Newer Version". However it is quite slow and I can't seem to navigate to "Settings".

scjm
See this:
http://blogoscoped.com/forum/116454.html

Does anyone know of a way to log into AIM but not regular Chat through google

This is particularly useful since my workplace appears to have blocked AIM.

Nice timing! :-)

P.S. Philipp, I think your first link should be this one:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/12/gmail-3-aim.html

Fixed!

OMG, works also with ICQ! I have been using transport, but it's was a bit unreliable...

Though it's a bit messy because it dosn't integrate well with contacts... Now all I want is Nick field in Contacts list and I can live happily ever after.

^^^
How do you do this?

On a side note, Gmail 2.0 is available in Safari now (well the windows version)

Well I use Meebo (with Firefox extension) most of the time as I can be logged into GTalk, MSN, Yahoo etc all at once.

Seems like Google's going down a similar route, or have they only added AIM because of the partnership and not planning to do any other networks? :-/

Read the last paragraph from the Google blog post.

Now have it, too. Neat. ICQ works as ICQ contacts are rendered as [ICQ#]aim.com internally.

A rather obvious feature request would be to link the chat contact with the entry in the contact manager.

Also, there should be a way to import the chat history from the client you used before.

Why bother having the AIM desktop client anyway? Pidgin seems to be far more powerful these days... I use Pidgin with my AIM and Yahoo accounts, and the GTalk standalone for ... well, that.

When is Google going to offer an option to show all contacts that are currently online. They only seem to have 'all contacts' or 'most popular'. That doesn't help me find out which contacts are currently online.

If you have your contacts set to show Automatically, they'll usually be shown at the top of the list if they are online.

If only I knew any one who uses aim. I was also using Gtalk for a while, now Pidgin. Gtalk needs a mayor/real update soon and then to allow us to chat with people using MSN, Y! etc.. otherwise is going to be hard to get more than a few to use Gtalk. Who knows, maybe they are working on that as I type, and I for one will use it daily if they do so. My 2 c

Martin Porcheron, That doesn't work with Aim friends in your list. You get All or the most popular.

Instead of chasing multiple competing proprietary protocols, why not just stick to Google Talk? It already supports XMPP, the only standard IM protocol. Really, that's the only one you need, just tell your AIM buddies to switch or get dropped...

Ionut
What's your point? :|

Wait,
You mean the last paragraph on Google's blog or Gmail's?!

Paul: That would be great, except my AIM using friends say "But everyone else I know uses AIM. Why should I bother to switch to a protocol nobody I know uses?", which is a very good point. Yes, as a CS person, I see why open protocols are better. But my AIM using (/MSN using) friends don't all agree, and aren't going to switch. And I'm going to use what my friends use, because otherwise, what's the point?

I am able to contact any person on my aim buddy list using my XMPP account (GTalk) in Pidgin by sending a message to screennameaim (not aim.com!). Does this indicate that gmail is not using the publicly available protocol but instead has created transports that they are using? Could it mean that all (or some) aim accounts will be able to communicate with XMPP (or just GTalk) accounts using screennameaim? Please correct me if im wrong and investigate this further.

As for all of you people complaining about the desktop client-- don't worry, the update *will* come. Google is an internet company and it should be obvious why they push updates on the web version sooner. They want more people using their web-applications! And it makes sense too. Open source chat clients like pidgin are already doing a fantastic job and can support multiple protocols and they're only going to get better with Telepathy (http://telepathy.freedesktop.org/)

I personally don't like the idea of Google going out and supporting all these different networks. I hope they pressure AOL into adopting XMPP (although there isn't much hope of that happening). XMPP is an open protocol and i think they should stick to it. It's just messy to go and support companies trying to keep their users by using their own proprietary network.

"I personally don't like the idea of Google going out and supporting all these different networks. I hope they pressure AOL into adopting XMPP (although there isn't much hope of that happening). XMPP is an open protocol and i think they should stick to it. It's just messy to go and support companies trying to keep their users by using their own proprietary network"

Good point but I seriously don't have any friends that will switch to Gtalk from say MSN or Y! I have tried with no luck, so gave up and now with Pidgin which I like by the way. AIM is mainly used by people from the US so no use for me there either but happy to hear some can have fun with the merge.

That's not Google's strategy. It'd would be unrealistic to expect everyone to just switch over like you describe. GTalk already is most popular worldwide, whereas all the others aren't-- they are just #1 in certain areas. Google will gradually gain more and more users. You will see this, don't worry. Google is smart :)

how to do this to see pidgin users in gmail

"That's not Google's strategy. It'd would be unrealistic to expect everyone to just switch over like you describe. GTalk already is most popular worldwide, whereas all the others aren't-- they are just #1 in certain areas. Google will gradually gain more and more users. You will see this, don't worry. Google is smart :)"

So please tell us what is realistic and is it not then?
and Gtalk is already the most popular worldwide? I would like to see some stats that proves what you are saying.

Yeah, i doubt GTalk is most popular worldwide.
Maybe Gmail.. but not Google Talk

hey guys can you tell me how to setup gmail to work with icq, msn.

> They want more people using their web-applications!

I would agree except look at the Google Talk homepage http://www.google.com/talk/ – the Download Google Talk button is much bigger than the tiny "Launch Google Talk Gadget" link. I recently pointed someone to this page telling them they can launch the online client, browser-based with no installation, and then they came back to me telling me the program wreaked havoc on their computer. Turns out they installed the desktop thing, because that's what the page so prominently displays. (I don't know *what* exactly was going wrong with the desktop client on their computer, by the way... it might not even have been responsible for the issues, I never experienced such things at least...)

BTW, for those who don't see the AIM options on your Chat settings page, make sure you have chat enabled by clicking the "turn on chat" link in the footer.

Strange. So turning on chat made the AIM option in the settings appear now. The rest of the chat options however is not connected to that "turn on chat" option (neiter does the chat box disappear when you turn off chat).

> They want more people using their web-applications!

>I would agree except look at the Google Talk homepage google.com/talk/ – the Download Google Talk button is much bigger than the tiny "Launch Google Talk Gadget" link.

The Google Talk gadget was the most prominent display for a long time after it launched with the desktop client link taking the backseat. It only recently switched back.

See this screenshot from Flickr:
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2341/2089196938_3d705bf9a7_o.jpg

So if your buddy is using AIM in his mobile device, you actually see a different status icon.

It's frustrating that they switched the gadget and desktop client around like that. I expect the reason that they switched it back was because people complained, but that's just complicated it further, because now some people expect the gadget to come up when you click the big button. They should put equally sized, side by side buttons on the page. I see no reason why they should limit it to one button and one link like it is now.

Also, it is not really possible to find usage stats for Google talk since everyone with a gmail account logs into google talk, whether or not they use it.

There are some of us who are still pulling for a desktop client that has all the functionality of the gadget and then some... But the side by side would be a great idea IMHO.

It shouldn't be so hard to believe that Google Talk is the most popular network. Think about it. Lets say there are Three networks, NetA, NetB, & NetC, and Google Talk and three locations, Loc1, Loc2, & Loc3.

Loc1 has 300 semi-frequent to regular Google Talk users, 800 NetA users, 50 NetB, and 100 Net C. Loc2 has 400 GTalk users, 100 NetA users, 750 NetB, and 200 NetC. Loc3 has 350 GTalk users, 50 NetA, 150 NetB, and 650 NetC.

This would give totals of 1050 Google Talk users, 950 usersfor NetA, B, and C. Now obviously there are many variables and the numbers i used in my example worked out quite evenly, but it should be easy to see how this could work out in real life. Google doesn't get a significant amount of users anywhere, but in total, they have the most popular network.

As for linking to the download for the desktop client, i do not believe this indicates that they want users using the desktop client. They did try changing the main link to the online Google Talk gadget but i believe, as Caleb said, they changed that not because they decided they wanted users to use the desktop client instead, but because users wanted or expected a desktop client because that is what they are accustomed to.

<<It shouldn't be so hard to believe that Google Talk is the most popular network. >>

I think it should. There are three main interfaces for Google Talk:
* Gmail
* Google Talk for Windows
* the gadget
(and other IM clients like Pidgin, iChat etc.)

Google Talk users are mostly a subset of Gmail users (even if you can use Google Talk without having a Gmail account). Gmail Chat is the most popular way to access Google Talk, it's enabled by default, but not all Gmail users know about it (some even disable it).

How many Gmail users? That's not very clear, but you should remember that Yahoo also integrated IM in Yahoo Mail, which has a lot more users than Gmail.

<<Yahoo! Mail is the No. 1 Web mail service in the world – it has 255 million users according to comScore's July 2006 figures. By comparision, MSN Hotmail has 234 million, AOL Mail 56 million and Google's Gmail 49 million.>> (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/yahoo_mail_beta_interview_ethan_diamond.php)

The numbers i was giving were for semi-frequent to regular users. People who just have it enabled, don't use it, disable it, etc. don't count. It doesn't matter where most people *with* a GTalk account come from, this is just for people that *use* it.

Either way, my point was that Google reaches out evenly and is gaining gradually. Would you not agree? Even if Google isn't the first thing people think of when they think of IM right now, the fact is, so many people have the accounts, and that's the first step. I'm trying to articulate this as best i can-- if anyone can do a better job, please. I guess what i'm trying to say is that it's the integration between all of Google's applications, the "Google Operating System", that is the key to their strategy. Other companies are strong in a few places but don't know how to spread themselves, while Google is excellent at this. Google *is* gaining, aren't they? :)

Still, this was not my original point which everyone seemed to miss! Did Google just use the AIM protocol as Luka said or did they in fact set up transports? If they did just use the AIM protocol, how can my experience with sending a message to an aim user with my (GTalk) XMPP account be explained?

Keith http://blogoscoped.com/forum/117264.html#id117409

See here:
http://blogoscoped.com/forum/114103.html#id114116

Apparently Google Talk still uses a standard XMPP method for the transport:

<iq to="aim" type="get" id="24">
<query xmlns="http://jabber.org/protocol/disco#info" />
</iq>

<iq to="####gmail.com/####" from="aim" id="24" type="result">
<info:query xmlns:info="http://jabber.org/protocol/disco#info">
<info:identity category="account" type="registered" name="Google Talk AIM User Account"/>
<info:feature var="http://jabber.org/protocol/disco#info"/>
<info:feature var="msgoffline"/>
</info:query>
</iq>

But it only works when the transport is set up through Gmail and the user is logged in to Gmail. Also, when an unknown AIM user tries to start a chat with your Talk account, you have to accept it through Gmail before you can receive the message in another XMPP client.

Note that the AIM Buddy List isn't sent through XMPP, but probably through some Open AIM protocol. So clients implementing this new AIM integration will have to implement that too, in a non-standard way.

Thanks fanboy! Sounds good-- i'd still prefer it if they somehow got AOL to go XMPP! :)

"Either way, my point was that Google reaches out evenly and is gaining gradually."

Yes I do not agree, it doesn't matter how much you want that to be true it is not happening and it is not the most popular IM in the world either DPic.

:-)

Of course, it would be better if people could use their Gmail usernames to communicate with AIM users (and vice versa) – that would be the true interoperability they've hinted at in the past...

It sounds to me though as if AOL have been unwilling to allow this – explaining the slightly 'messy' gmail implementation people have been commenting on. Not really Google's fault though – and at least it's a start!

Tutsie, i'd rather not turn this into a personal argument. I'm not sure what's to disagree with that you just quoted me on. You don't think Google has a more distributed reach? You don't think that Google is gaining? Let's say it isn't the most popular network, you could be right about that-- but they do try to do the best they can at reaching out to as many countries as possible: they do spread more evenly. It might be hard to say Google isn't getting more users too....anyways, i'm not sure why that was so important.

It is not important, not to me anyways. And I am not saying they aren't trying. I just pointed out some things I didn't agree with. I wish I was wrong since I am a Goggle user and I like their stuff. Anyways, no hard feelings :-) and hopefully we will see Gtalk grow as fast as we want so we can ditch MSN Y! etc

Tutsie, agreed :)

Some discussion about this AIM integration being evil:
http://coccinella.im/gmail-aim-evil
http://www.pthree.org/2007/12/08/google-is-now-officially-evil/

OMG so sad...these people need a life

Heh... Says someone obsessed with everything that has to do with Google. :-)

Actually, these people do have a point: with this AIM integration, it may look like Google is losing its commitment to open protocols and an open IM network.

<< ... it may look like Google is losing its commitment to open protocols and an open IM network. >>

Well, to me it seems that Google is trying to stay committed but nobody else (read: MSN/Yahoo) is interested in moving to an open IM network.

Well, yeah, but calling it evi; is a very strong word, aren't they bringing in more integration later?

I just noticed you can actually add new AIM/ICQ buddies right within Gmail:
Click on Add Contact in the left-hand sidebar, then Add AIM Contact. Neat.