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Google Talk – A Second Look
Matt Lincoln Russell
September 3, 2005 11:41 AM ET in Tech
Online, everything is hyper-fast. Google Talk recently ended its first week as a public beta as this article went to press, but it’s already “old” to us. We clicked, we toyed, and we made our judgment – some of us probably in seconds, and some without ever touching it. I propose we pop the hood on Google’s latest invention, give it a thorough examination, and then look past this week and this first iteration of Google Talk.
Google Talk isn’t just another instant message program. It’s already apparent that it is striking out on a different path than its AOL, MSN, and Yahoo predecessors. At first glance one might say, “It’s just IM packaged differently and with fewer capabilities than other feature-rich clients.” However, if you just look at its simple messaging interface, a bigger idea comes across.
On every IM window are “call” and “e-mail” icons – that’s it. I’ve often thought about how “instantaneous” communication actually happens at three speeds: phone, instant message, and e-mail. In a phone conversation you must respond immediately; silence is awkward. On IM, you can choose your words and retype them, but the person on the other end generally expects a reply within the next minute or two. With e-mail, who knows? Maybe the reply will be in 10 minutes, or maybe tomorrow. All the messages can move at the same speed, we just naturally have different expectations of them. Tuck that thought away, and we’ll come back to it later.
Let’s quickly break down Google Talk and compare it to other clients while we’re at it. First, the interface. Folks, it’s clean, organized, and simple. Here’s what I thought were the most important features:
- Google Talk doesn’t have ads. Maybe it’s just to get established, but it’s a welcome relief from the annoying AIM client.
- All message boxes are dockable. This is a nice feature for organization that other programs lack; it also allows you to resize all the windows at once.
- The message windows collapse into their toolbars like Winamp elements. Other IM interfaces will physically minimize to your toolbar. I prefer GT’s method.
- When you minimize your list, the message windows minimize too. I like being able to wipe my desktop quickly like this.
Take a quick look at these two images. The first is my messaging world when using AIM.
Now look at a similar number of conversations through Google Talk.
It just looks cleaner and easier to use. There are several other things you’ll notice, like a different style for indicating away / idle / active states with red, yellow, and green icons. Here’s a closeup of what the buddy list looks like.
Most of the rest of it is superficial or very similar to other clients, so let’s move on to how it handles messaging. Again, just the cool stuff:
- There are no graphical smilies. Smiley symbols are auto-bolded instead. Most clients’ graphics annoy me anyway.
- It only prints a username when the speaker changes. If I say three things in a row, it only puts my name before the first. Each subsequent message is indented below it. A subtle feature, but one that reduces text clutter.
- It prints a time stamp when the conversation lags. It does this automatically so that you know when there’s been a pause.
- People must accept an invitation before you can talk to them. Other clients do similar things, but fall short. They usually pop up a new request for each new person, which defeats the purpose all together. What do I care if I’m closing a request or a message window? GT leaves the notice in your list to deal with when you want.
- There are popup notifications, and they can be disabled. Convenience or annoyance? I haven’t decided.
A quick pic of the notifications:
Overall, they made more subtle but appreciated changes here. I like the little tweaks they’ve made. Lastly, let’s look at a few miscellaneous features and issues:
- Conversations auto-log and automatically continue during your next session with the person. It’s a nice way to remember where you left off. However, there is no apparent save feature, and only x-number of messages are retained at any time.
- The system is built on Jabber, so it can be imported into clients like Trillian and GAIM. ‘Nuff said.
- There is a general feeling of a lack of options. Other clients are much more feature rich, but I’m not sure the features are really necessary. In any case, it’s a beta, so I don’t judge harshly for this.
- I can’t figure out how it picks the name to display. In some cases, my friends were displaying their Gmail account name in the message window. In other cases, their real name was displayed. Between us, we couldn’t find any rhyme or reason to the pattern. However, you can rename how all your buddies appear on your list so I suppose it isn’t a big deal; just slightly annoying.
Conclusion
As you can see, Google Talk does a lot of things right but feels like it’s missing a few pieces. For instance, several people in our forums have complained about its lack of file transfer ability. I ask, though: Why do you need file transfer when you have a free 2+ gigabyte mailbox on the same system? When viewed as part of a larger Google network, some of the “holes” like this one start to disappear. Some disagree, of course.
A short-media forums member made this analogy of instant message clients:
“Let’s say I’m comparing four cars. One has features I really like. Another one has features I really like. The third one tried to incorporate the features of the first two but failed terribly. The last one doesn’t have any of the features of the first three. The third one gets points for trying, but since it has mastered nothing, I don’t want it. Obviously I don’t want the fourth one, because it’s just a piece of crap. The first two are nice, and I’ll probably get/use the one that has the most features I favor.
“So let’s break it down: AIM is the first car. ICQ is the second car. GT is the third car if it handled other clients [like Trillian does]. GT is the fourth car because it doesn’t.”
Google’s beta client does not try to out-class or out-feature other IM programs (at least not yet). What it does is smack you in the face and say, “You can communicate at all speeds, right now, right here.” Sure, the other three giants have their e-mail, and most have “talk” features as well. However, these features are buried in with every other little toy in the programs. It seems to be Google’s main focus, and that may be what lets it overcome IM regionalization; let me explain.
I’ve noticed through conversations with friends around the United States and in other countries that instant messaging products tend to be regionalized. One school district uses AIM, while another primarily uses Yahoo. Basically, one gains dominance and everyone starts to use that system so they can be “in the loop” in a physical area. At my high school and college, AOL’s instant messenger has been the client of choice. I suspect (and hypothesize) that in the next two years, as Gmail and Google Talk slowly trickle down from those who lead these trends to those who are dragged along by them, the Google system could become the preferred system across all regions, despite their current affiliations. I think the reason is quite simple.
Google put phone, instant message, and e-mail into one place with clear intentions. Your Gmail contact list is now your phone list. It is now your buddy list. This system is screaming out to be your contact hub on the web. Given enough time, I think you’re going to listen.
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