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Google Talk Smileys Update  (View post)

Ian Davies [PersonRank 2]

Friday, May 25, 2007
17 years ago6,503 views

That's nice, but when are we going to see an update for the Google Talk client?

We're expecting so many things, but the client hasn't had an update since last November when they added offline messaging, and that already in the Jabber specification. The last significant update to the client was last July [ http://www.customizetalk.com/index.php?page=news&id=717] when they added file transfer and voicemail, and we've been waiting ever since.

They are supposedly working on calls to landlines after what was said in an interview last year [ http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3650566], and the recent screenshots floating around from the Google Apps presentation back this up. They've also recently acquired Marratech's video conferencing software and one of the developers has been hinting towards this appearing soon in his blog [ http://juberti.blogspot.com]. We've also been waiting for AIM integration since Google made the deal with them in 2005 [ http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20051221-5814.html], and we've seen more of this recently with what was discovered through the translation program. Skype integration was also mentioned on the Google's blog a while back [ http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/08/talking-with-skype.html], but we haven't heard anything since.

This is all quite frustrating, because Google Talk has the potential to be amazing but progress has been incredibly slow right from the very beginning. The interface is nice the archiving of chats in Gmail is very handy, and I love the fact that it's all based on open standards. The voice quality is also very good, but in the client's current form I find it very hard to recommend to anybody.

The Flash Google Talk Gadget is just a modified version of Gtalker [ http://lifehacker.com/software/integration/google-and-flickr-integration-with-gtalkr-152960.php], which was not developed by Google, so what have the actual Google Talk developers been doing? There have been all these rumours and hints for such a long time now, and I really do hope we see something come from it soon.

Pharod [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

I agree with Ian, it is time for a client update. They have 'abandoned' it (at least in updates) for quite some time.

On a side note, I am really not excited about calls to landlines as I'm not in the US :) Unless it works in Venezuela with local currency. Then I'd be excited (and surprised).

Colin Colehour [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Being a recent Windows to Mac switcher, I would love to see a Google Talk Mac client. I have no problem using Adium for normal chat but I don't have a Google Talk voice option with that application.

Ben Allen [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I want to see these emoticons implimented into the clients.

The way I see it, emoticons for users should be sorts of 'emoticon sets' you can download. Say, an ability for users to make their own emoticon skins and upload them to a database (like the gadget library for iGoogle) for others to use, or make them private.

Possibly the same idea for chat themes as well? (not the hacked version)

stefan2904 [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

:-(

dan [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

bet I can guess Dominik's email address! :-P

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