VoIP Now: Google Talk Hearts Skype?

August 31, 2006

Google Talk Hearts Skype?

Google's Talkabout weblog, the official blog for the Google Talk IM client, has a posting about the announcement between Google and eBay (Skype's parent company). There's also a little blurb about exploring "interoperability between Google Talk and Skype". Yeah! Google Talk is based on an open standard, whereas Skype is not. This should get very interesting, with all these IM client pairings.

Russell Shaw at ZDNet, however, thinks Google's not interested in the full potential of Internet telephony for Google Talk. His reasoning, from reading between the lines of the deal, is that Google is saying that they have "relatively modest plans for Google Talk." I have to agree that Google has yet to make Talk a full-blown VoIP IM client. It can't even call out to regular phones without the help of software like Vozin Communication's Talqer. As for whether Russell's right, we'll have to see. Though I think that the higher ups at Google often use the "mystical warrior" philosophy to mislead us on their real intentions :)

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August 31, 2006 in Google, Netmeeting, Networks, Skype | Permalink