Google Adds Chat To Gmail

Nathan Weinberg writes "Google has added a chat feature to Gmail. It brings Google Talk, minus voice calls, into your webmail client. Gmail now also logs your IMs, whether they originate in Gmail or Google Talk. In the commentary at InsideGoogle, I note that Google recommends you disable Firefox's AdBlock, which can block Google's ads, if you want Gmail Chat to function properly."

Live!

[immorak]

I can't wait for it to go live. At this point there is a button in my gmail account but just talks about "coming soon". I guess the google talk chats can now be saved on my gmail account starting now.

IM Banned

[Anonymous Coward]

another thing that will be banned for school/work

Excited

[Donniedarkness]

Not to sound like a Google fanboy, but I absolutely LOVE GTalk for its nice clean interface and lack of smilies.

Can't wait to see what this turns out to be like. Here at school, I can't install Gtalk, so my girlfriend (off at college) communicate through email. This will make this a lot easier.

On a side note, I wonder if Adblock will really screw this up, or if they're just trying to get people to stop blocking their ads.

Am I the only one?

[faloi]

I'm sort of concerned about the logging of all my IM's. I suppose I know on a logical level that all that stuff is being stored, regardless of the IM client. But I prefer to live in the cloud that tells me my IMs are private and if I don't log 'em, they don't get logged.

Re:Am I the only one?

[skiman1979]

well your IMs aren't really private unless you use some form of encryption. Even then, it would depend on the type of encryption you use.

Re:Logging

[AKAImBatman]

I think this thing is a good idea (not the logging, the chat-inside-mailapp). I wonder if you get marked as "online" whenever you check your Mail on mail.google.com...

I think both features are good. Logging can be incredibly useful when you're using IM for online meetings and collaboration. (Such as in OSS projects.) To date I've been using a ChatBot to collaborate and record the conversations. This would free me to just record all my conversations, then move the interesting parts to the wiki as necessary.

Way to go Google!

Re:Excited

[garcia]

Not to sound like a Google fanboy, but I absolutely LOVE GTalk for its nice clean interface and lack of smilies.

Yes, because that's the reason to use Google's client... The lack of emoticons! A feature that every client I have ever used allows you to disable anyway.

Re:Reimplementing AOL

[Nevenmrgan]

In the course of this morning, I logged on to four different computers, three of which aren't mine. I visited just one page on each computer - google.com/ig. I logged in and was able to check my email, news, the weather, movies for tonight, comments on my Flickr photos, a few friends' blogs, some cool quotes, and now this story. And soon, IM.

If AOL ever offered, currently offers, or is planning on ever offering this level of user-friendliness, content consolidation, and ease/speed of use, all for free, all without the need to install anything on the client computer, I will buy you a beer, sir.

Google policies

[alexmipego]

We must not forget google policies. If you let them to log your chats then you're giving them even more information about you.

At first, all that information can, and will be used, to make target advertisement. No big deal since they already analyse our email.

Second, all that information can, and will be used, in case of any "law" problems with them. The have in their policies that rules, so if you come to be from a rival company they will use all the information they get from your email, and not the chats too, to play dirty.

Be carefull boys!

Re:too-much-contact-with-contacts

[ClearlyPennsylvania]

Or... you can just disable the chat part at the bottom of the screen. Or... you can just sign off to the chat part. Seriously, relax. If you don't want the chat part, you don't have to use it.

Re:Logging

[AKAImBatman]

I just fear that google, without you knowing, would log what you chat about!

What's to stop them from doing this now?

Re:Logging

[guildsolutions]

THAT my friend is my entire point and why everyone should be using encryption of some sort if they wish their chats read by only the parties invited!

Re:Quite a good idea...

[Bert64]

Well i communicate with gtalk users through jabber. I like the idea of having my own personalised domain, like i do with email, and it's much easier if people only have a single address with which to contact me. I wouldn't like to be known by blah432432432@yahoo, blah432423432@gmail and blah321321311@hotmail.

Anything which gets more people using an open messaging system like jabber is a good thing. And if google can provide value-add features to their service while still maintaining compatibility with the rest of the network, just like they do with email, that's great!

Re:Logging

[Spy Hunter]

Anyone who thinks logging in an IM client is not useful has never tried using it. The only problem I've had with it in the past is that logs are tied to one computer and one client, so they're not always available. Google's logs are of course online and searchable, and integrated with email as IM should have been from the start. And if you're already using GMail, you should have no problem with Google storing your messages.

I haven't tried it yet, but if it works at all this could be the best development to come out of Google since Google maps. And dare I hope that they won't be able to block it at work without killing GMail too?

Re:Google policies

[brunson]

Not if use use a client like Psi to connect to GoogleTalk and enable GPG encryption.

Re:Google policies

[Anonymous Coward]

Be carefull boys!

Meh... The feds are already listening to your phone calls and reading all your eamils without judicial over-sight. And here we are *worried* that Google might have to comply with a court order to turn over your chat/email logs.

Get your priorities straight.

Re:Am I the only one?

[TheLink]

"my IMs are private and if I don't log 'em, they don't get logged."

Uh, if you don't just talk to yourself, the other party could log your IMs too.

Anyway, anyone in between (ISPs, company, wireless provider, 3 letter agencies) can log the data.

Practically all popular IM's send messages in plaintext. Even if you use encryption, the other party may wish to save it in plaintext...

Re:Google policies

[Anonymous Coward]

Those with nothing to fear, fear nothing.

Yeah, right! Tell that to the 1500+ US citizens of Arab decent who were locked up incommunicado for 18 months. They too had nothing to fear.

Re:Jabber bridges

[jaseuk]

Grandparent was about the Google Talk system and not the Jabber Network in general. Originally Google Talk was Jabber compatible but closed to connections from other servers, they have now opened it up, but there is still no way to talk using a Google ID and the Google Client to users not on the Jabber Network.

I'm well aware that there are ways to bridge the gap between Jabber and other networks.

Re:Google policies

[baadger]

all that information can, and will be used, to make target advertisement. No big deal since they already analyse our email.

Not necessarily, IMO email tends to be:

1. More formal - There is a plethora of personal information brought up casually and spontaneously in live conversation you just wouldn't get in an email. I personally don't want what I talk about with friends being used to try and sell me crap... after all I probably use IM (and Skype) more than I do my land line. Sure this information is only processed by machine, but still Google more granular baadger metadata for analysis than I would like.
2. More full of noise and not under my control - As a consumer analysing my work related mail or all the junk mail (not necessarily spam or unwanted) I receive is useless for them. The emails I receive aren't under my control or tailored to me to a great extent so why should assumptions based upon them be? Personally, I've noticed most of the ads I get while on Gmail are totally uninteresting

I'm not paranoid about Google's systems learning my favourite colour or what I like to eat for tea, what irk's me is just how much detail and how many logs these systems have to make before the ad's start becoming interesting and relevent.

For webmasters running a topical websites, I think text or near text only auto-tailored ads was a great idea. I'm just not convinced for those of us with ad blindness and like to think we have some consumer smarts, but might actually be interesed in good products and services, that it's yet useful to an extent worth everything _we_ give to the big G.

WHERE IS THE CALENDAR?!

[Bushido Hacks]

I've said this a million times already! G-mail needs a calendar application! Forget this chatting crap! I need help with time management!

adblock

[wwmedia]

to all of u who dont want to uninstall ADBLOCK :)

just right click on the adblock icon and select "whitelist this site"

thats my 2c ;)

Re:Logging where?

[AKAImBatman]

What's to stop Google from keeping the message in their archives? Just because the POP3 session says it's deleted, doesn't mean it actually is. That's just a false sense of security. By allowing your email to pass through Google's servers, you are effectively trusting Google. If you don't trust them, you shouldn't be using their servicess, not using POP3.