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Google The Internet Businesses Communications

Google Hires Gaim's Main Developer 282

Posted by Zonk from the new-front-in-the-communications-war dept.
astrab writes "According to Dirson's blog, Google's just hired Sean Egan (the main developer of Gaim open IM client), just the same day Yahoo! and Microsoft plan to link their respective proprietary IM networks." From the post: "While Yahoo! and Microsoft link their proprietary networks for Instant Messaging, Google bets on Open Protocols to make information universally accessible ... Currently, Google uses XMPP/Jabber specs, but they claim to be supporting open server-to-server federation, and work "to hear from other people in the communications industry about how best to build a federation model that is open, scalable". In fact, there are this month several tests with firms like EarthLink, Sipphone or PeopleCall. "
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Google Hires Gaim's Main Developer More

Google Hires Gaim's Main Developer

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  • iChat (Score:4, Interesting)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:00PM (#13783806)
    Very neat, glad to see google is committed to cross-platform support.

    I will be happy when gtalk works with my jabber account in iChat.

    • Re:iChat (Score:3, Insightful)

      by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF ( 813746 )

      I will be happy when gtalk works with my jabber account in iChat.

      I'm not sure I follow you. Gtalk works just fine when configured as a jabber account in iChat, Google even has instructions up on their page as to how to configure it. Or did you mean when/if Google allows Gtalk to talk to other jabber accounts than Google ones (which is an issue unrelated to ichat or any other client)?

  • Looks like (Score:5, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:01PM (#13783814)
    they've GAIMed another employee!

  • Jobs in OSS (Score:5, Interesting)

    by PopeOptimusPrime ( 875888 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:02PM (#13783819)
    Just another example of where an OSS junkie finds gainful employment in the dot-com industry.

    • Hired a month and a half back (Score:5, Informative)

      by balster neb ( 645686 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:21PM (#13784009)
      According to this [sourceforge.net] page on the Gaim site, he's been working at google for a month and a half now:

      Working at Google

      I (Sean) have been hired by Google, moved to Seattle, and have been working on the Google Talk team for about a month and a half. The goal of Google Talk is to make real-time communication as open as possible, and in that regard, I've been working to offer all of Google Talk's features into other clients. Currently, I'm working on making it as easy as possible for other clients to use Google Talk's voice features. You can expect Gaim and other clients to be interoperable with Google Talk's voice features in the near future.

      • Sweetness! I've been waiting for a way to get voice over IP through Google Talk since it first came out. So few people are willing to use Skype around here for some reason, but many are jumping on Google Talk. Whatever, as long as Gaim's improved, it's great news.

    • Re:Jobs in OSS (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward
      "gaimful employment"?
    • Isn't it also another example of reverse Darwinism in the OSS community? My guess is the time he spends working on GAIM will go down.
    • Just another example of Google taking over the Internets!

      *RUN*

  • Webcam (Score:5, Insightful)

    by niskel ( 805204 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:02PM (#13783829)
    This would be great if it somehow sped up development of webcam support in Gaim in Linux. Or even webcam support in some new Goolge IM client for Linux. Asking people to use netmeeting is sortof a pain especially if they are behind firewalls.

    • Re:Webcam (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Seumas ( 6865 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:16PM (#13783973)
      Why would I want to see a bunch of people online and talk with them when they could just send me a text message? I can save a history of text chat. I can go take a dump and come back and catch up on the text I missed. I don't have to look at ths person. I dont' have to deal with a bunch of overhead. Video is just a stupid addition to so many things these days (such as blogs).

      Video is NOT always an improvement.
      • Video is NOT always an improvement.

        It is if you want your IM app to be used in a corporate enviroment by customers paying for support.

      • Re:Webcam (Score:3, Insightful)

        by jb.hl.com ( 782137 )
        You may not use it, but lots of people do. This is the point.

      • Re:Webcam (Score:5, Funny)

        by blindbat ( 189141 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:29PM (#13784085)
        bcus my dad cant splel werth crp
      • What if you want to show somethign to the person you're talking with? It's easier to just hold whatever it is up to a webcam than to take a photo, upload it, and send it as a file (especially if you want to show it performing some action over time).

      • Re:Webcam (Score:3, Funny)

        by Afecks ( 899057 )
        Why would I want to see a bunch of people online and talk with them when they could just send me a text message?

        How else are we going to see live naked girls? Go outside?!

      • Re:Webcam (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Vidael ( 809720 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:43PM (#13784227)

        Setting aside the corporate necessities for video conferencing; video over IM clients is a great way for families to interact when members are a great distance away. Text and voice is good to a point, but getting to actually SEE your loved ones (in a non-static picture) fulfills a deeper need. I'm sure a psychologist could better explain that than I could.


        The fact that, in your opinion, video is a "stupid addition" is absolutely irrelevant in today's society.

      • technophobia is far from what I would ever call "insightful". Just because you can live without it does not mean that it shouldnt be implimented.
      • and besides, if you have a wireless connected laptop and you like to take it into the shitter with you, your friends and loved ones can chat with you while watching you pinch a loaf. so hot!

      • Re:Webcam (Score:2, Insightful)

        by scotsalmon ( 150459 )
        It won't be _that_ long before you can save the video like you'd save your text chat, search [masternewmedia.org] its history, skip over the boring parts, and so on. Complaining about the overhead of video may eventually seem as silly as complaining about the overhead of mobile phones when you could be using a simple telegraph.

        -Scot

        "Ahhh. A billion dollars of infrastructure so I don't have to yell." -my friend Mitch, on a phone call from 50' away
      • Video is an improvement, the end result is something that YOU have the CHOICE to use or not.

        Your argument is as valid as saying we should not have TV or Telephones because they are not improvements in communications. These advances happen till they reach that level of human perception acceptance, such as what we have for TV/CDs/Telephones/photography these days. Internet video has some way to go still then will reach a stable state, then we will move onto hi-definition video or even holigraphic video.

        As I s
      • I see your point, but you have to look at it from the perspective of people whose 'friend' isn't a basement dwelling troll. Some people actually have attractive friends (notice: plural) that like to talk to them.
      • Video is NOT always an improvement.

        But many times it is:

        When I'm working overseas, and I want to *see* my kids
        When I want to type with both hands and communicate at the same time
        When I want to *see how the other person reacts to what I say*

        Text is a useful and efficient means of interpersonal communications, but it doesn't capture the full range of live interpersonal communication. Video sure as hell doesn't either, but it's a lot better than text. Audio only is somewhere between t
      • Actually it's not needed everyday, but it's very nice with friends you don't get to see often.

        I've been backpacking across South America and I can tell you it is very nice to see your family (or new friends) moving around live after 6 months. It is even worth using those shitty windows IM's at times just to do so.

    • "This would be great if it somehow sped up development of webcam support in Gaim in Linux. Or even webcam support in some new Goolge IM client for Linux. Asking people to use netmeeting is sortof a pain especially if they are behind firewalls."

      Speaking of webcams, why doesn't anyone take Trillian to task over its failure to connect to webcams using Yahoo Messenger? Universal IM client my azz.

  • Different methods (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Iriel ( 810009 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:03PM (#13783845) Homepage
    It's interesting that MSN and Yahoo IM clients are working together to get in on the pie that AOL currently has half of through text chat. Meanwhile, it looks like Google wants to make sure everyone can talk to everyone in hopes that this will attract more people than regular IM, methinks. Afterall, why bother with IM, when Google will have a veritable VoIP service for free ( I know it's not the same, but it could be quite similar ) that plays with others? The only pitfall to this tactic is that you can IM someone a dirty little sercret at work, but VoIP'ing it can get you into serious trouble ^_^
    • It's interesting that MSN and Yahoo IM clients are working together to get in on the pie

      I read an excellent article about a month ago after the release of Google Talk that predicted something like this would happen based what reliable sources had said (anyone have the link?)

      I don't think it's an issue of getting in on any 'pie', more that they're slightly fearful of what Google can accomplish. Running any IM service is expensive - think of the infrastructure required, and the demands people would make f

    • It's interesting that MSN and Yahoo IM clients are working together to get in on the pie that AOL currently has half of through text chat.

      Maybe in the US. But I've got contacts in UK, France, Japan, Korea and New Zealand, and none of them use AIM. They're all either MSN or Yahoo users (many are both).

  • The most popular IM client? (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bhirsch ( 785803 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:04PM (#13783850) Homepage
    TFA says, "Sean is the main developer of Gaim, the most popular IM client." I somehow doubt that. MSN Messenger is preinstalled on just about every news Windows box. Plus, the standard AIM client has been around for a very long time.

  • Oh great (Score:5, Funny)

    by SpiffyMarc ( 590301 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:04PM (#13783851)
    I think he was like, the last person who didn't work for Google. I'm pretty sure I work for Google now too. Anybody here not work for Google?

  • Some fun with puns (Score:4, Funny)

    by dotslashdot ( 694478 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:06PM (#13783865)
    Shouldn't this be titled "Google Got GAIM?" I'm all for the GAIM marriage thing--it will only help Google Kopete against Microsoft-- but the next thing you know, Google will be saying "Send in the GIMP." What kind of Subversion of moral authority would that be?
  • Google need to play the good guys, and open up their Talk servers so that other Jabber servers can connect with them. Until they do this, I'm going to be a little suspicious of them. (I do use my Google Jabber account, but I still keep my other ones too, as I'm not sure of their motives.) Still, good on Google for using an open protocol - I've been trying to explain to people why Jabber is good ("imagine if there were only 4-5 email servers in the world, and you could only email users of your email server") for a long time - and it's been a thankless task.

  • So what you're saying is... (Score:5, Funny)

    by mopslik ( 688435 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:07PM (#13783875)
    ...Google aims to maim AIM as it gains GAIM's main brain?

  • a bad day (Score:3, Funny)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:08PM (#13783896)
    another loss to the open source community, this gaim developer now will be too busy in meetings, 20% free time and other google things. the gaim developement will stall.

    • Re:a bad day (Score:4, Insightful)

      by The Lynxpro ( 657990 ) <lynxpro@@@gmail...com> on Thursday October 13, 2005 @04:05PM (#13785291)
      "another loss to the open source community, this gaim developer now will be too busy in meetings, 20% free time and other google things. the gaim developement will stall."

      Are you seriously crying over the fact that the guy will now have more than enough drachmas to buy himself food now? If anything, his hiring by Google ensures that he'll be working on Gaim even more now.

      Has Firefox stalled with Google hiring some coders? Sheesh, its not like Microsoft hired Linus all of a sudden.

  • Open Source Client versus Open Source Server? (Score:5, Interesting)

    by dada21 ( 163177 ) * <adam.dada@gmail.com> on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:08PM (#13783897) Homepage Journal
    So basically we're going back to the days of IRC, albeit in a different front-end format.

    It does sound good, in some ways, but I worry about rogue servers and rogue clients. IM has been virtually free of direct spam attacks (I have only received one in my entire life), and I fear that without having some corporation's control in their propietary medium, we'll see more spam and less usefulness.

    Look what happened with the "open standard" of Usenet. It is SO informative and so readily useful, isn't it? I'm not a fan of most Yahoo Groups but the ones I read are generally spam free (moderators) instead of being spam magnets.

    Yes, there is a place for open source, but I don't think this is it. I'm willing to hear reasons why Google's desire to have a open server-to-server federation will be good for a product that already offers me everything I need (at the moment). What new features are going to replace the current text-to-text feature that is probably used by 100% of IM's users. Is VoIP really an extension to IM or is it a different product? Aren't there enough programmers added on features to the propietary AIM program that is doesn't seem to warrant the need for a more open standard? Does the propietary standard offer manufacturers more reason to police their networks of abusers, and is it wrong for these companies to assume to make a profit in order to pay for the massive infrastructure needed to provide IM services?

    I do understand the need to open the standard for client-server interaction. More clients means more features, more stability, and more control over your applications on your computer. It also means more clients for lesser-used operating systems, better integration into non-PC stations (media centers, phones, etc), and possibly more people using the IM system.

    • Re:Open Source Client versus Open Source Server? (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 99BottlesOfBeerInMyF ( 813746 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:37PM (#13784166)

      Yes, there is a place for open source, but I don't think this is it. I'm willing to hear reasons why Google's desire to have a open server-to-server federation will be good for a product that already offers me everything I need (at the moment).

      Scenario: I run a small business and I want to be able to run an internal server that lets my employees chat and video chat with one another and transfer files in a secure, encrypted fashion. Due to security concerns and government regulations I can't use someone else's server. Further I would like to enable my employees to chat with people in other companies and with anyone else they feel like either through a mostly secure, encrypted messaging system or an unencrypted messaging system. I'd like users to be able to choose the client that suits them and that runs on any given platform. Finally, I don't want to poke a half a dozen holes in my firewall and I don't want every user to have to run five different accounts to talk to all the different people they know.

      The proper answer to this problem is for the industry to move to an open standard. It works just fine for e-mail, and there is no reason it won't work for chat.

    • I own pavlovian.net. I don't run my own mail server, I pay a company a small amount per year to do it for me. I have everything at pavlovian dot net. If my email provider goes out of business, that's OK - I'll find another one and point pavlovian dot net to that. If my email provider starts putting up big spam filters that I don't want, or adds mandatory "features" that I don't want, or starts injecting advertisements into my e-mail, I can, again, just move it.

      I own pavlovian dot net email and I can do anyt
    • >Look what happened with the "open standard" of Usenet. It is SO informative and so readily useful, isn't it?

      Umm, Yes. Asking a technical question in the correct newsgroup is usually the fastest way to get your answer. That is if it hasn't already been answered somewhere in google's usenet archives.

  • Don't be Tom Smykowski (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Ctrl+Alt+De1337 ( 837964 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:09PM (#13783909) Homepage
    Before everyone assumes everything with Gaim will be instantly different, remember that a couple Firefox developers got hired by Google, and nothing much changed with that project. I mean, Microsoft hired the founder of Gentoo, and look how much has changed there (practically nil).

    In short, if anything this is good because ensures that Gaim will not die. Google hired a dev, they didn't somehow buy the whole project.
    • Microsoft hired the founder of Gentoo, and look how much has changed there (practically nil).
      I haven't really kept up with the Gentoo community recently, but last I heard he was basically leaving the project.

  • Linux is not their first priority (Score:3, Insightful)

    by mroch ( 715318 ) * on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:10PM (#13783917)
    Everyone's first thought is probably that this will be great for Gaim. But how much time will Sean have for Gaim if he's working on Google Talk? It's more likely that Google is interested in him because of libgaim, which runs on Windows and supports all the major protocols. Between AIM, MSN and Yahoo on Windows, that's a huge majority of the market. I doubt Gaim on Linux is why they want Sean.
    • If you are thinking about working on an open source project, you have to justify the time you are spending. If you know that organizations like Google are looking at the 'stars' of the open source community for their next hires, you now have additional motivation to work on the open source project. This is certainly delayed (and uncertain) gratification, but it may be enough to add more open source developers. Besides, I don't seen any coersion here, so there really isn't anything to complain about.
  • I nearly shat myself when I first read the headline. I thought it read:

    Google Hires GAIN's Main Developer

  • Jabber + PostgreSQL == good (Score:3, Interesting)

    by tcopeland ( 32225 ) * <tom@NoSPaM.thomasleecopeland.com> on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:18PM (#13783991) Homepage
    I've been using xdb_sql to log user registrations and roster changes and whatnot to PostgreSQL; notes on that are here [blogs.com].

    The more Jabber developers and users the better... it'll just keep getting faster and more stable!
  • Comment removed based on user account deletion

  • Get in the GAIM (Score:5, Informative)

    by digitaldc ( 879047 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:29PM (#13784087)
    I hear Google is hiring.
    Anyone got some innovative web apps to develop?

    Contact information:
    http://www.google.com/intl/en/jobs/index.html [google.com]

    Google Benefits

    We have never forgotten since our start-up days that great things happen more frequently within the right culture and environment. So we offer Googlers a generous host of benefits as part of our efforts to keep Google a motivating, healthy, and productive place.

    Among the various benefits many Googlers enjoy:
    * Health care for you and your family, plus on-site physician and dental care at our headquarters in Mountain View, California
    * Vacation days and holidays, and flexible work hours
    * Maternity and parental leave, plus new moms and dads are able to expense up to $500 for take-out meals during the first four weeks that they are home with their new baby
    * Employee referral bonus program
    * Employee assistance services for personal issues, childcare referrals, answers to financial and legal questions
    * Learning opportunities and tuition reimbursement
    * Adoption assistance
    * Google Child Care Center, just five minutes from Google headquarters in Mountain View
    * Back-up child care helps California parents when their regularly scheduled child care falls through
    * Free shuttle service to several San Francisco, East Bay, and South Bay locations
    * Fuel Efficiency Vehicle Incentive Program
    * Employee discounts
    * Onsite dry cleaning, plus a coin-free laundry room in the Mountain View office

    Look for us to continue exploring novel ideas in benefits, compensation, and culture. Our goal is to build a company characterized not only by success and innovation, but also by the highest levels of integrity and fairness in our dealings with one another.

    Why can't all companies be like Google??? The world would be a better place.
    • You are getting very easily moulded my friend. All the benifits they are touting like on-site gym, on-site daycare, company bus, etc. are only available to folks in their CA office. Also, there is nothing great about tution reimbursement, employee referral - any decent emloyer gives you this. The other benifits are carefully crafted to give a sense of great benifit at little expense from Google's side. Really, somebody with a good salary and great stock options doesn't need $500 for take-out meals. Also if

    • Re:Get in the GAIM (Score:4, Insightful)

      by BoldAndBusted ( 679561 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @05:29PM (#13786064) Homepage

      Try reading that again, except substituting this at the end:

      Why can't all *countries* be like Google??? The world would be a better place.

  • Sounds exactly like Google (Score:5, Funny)

    by Pac ( 9516 ) <paulo...candido@@@gmail...com> on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:36PM (#13784153)
    I mean, just when everybody start thinking they've finally became just another big evil corporation, they go out there and do something good. And then everybody's confused again.

  • Google sells real Information Technology? (Score:5, Insightful)

    by lawpoop ( 604919 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:39PM (#13784187) Homepage Journal
    It seems to me that Google, contrary to other IT companies, actually sees its business as providing access to information, whereas companies like MS and AOL seek vendor lock-in for their file formats and protocols.

    Some of you may have already realized this, but for me, I had this realization while reading this article summary. Google is like the first real IT company -- this is what the computer revolution was meant to be.
    • In this case, it's probably forced. Why would anybody join their network if it were simply the tiniest (by far) of the closed, non-interoperable IM networks, with also the fewest features of any current network-provided client?

      And since they're starting with no audience, there's no way in hell it'd make business sense for any other closed IM network to offer interoperability in exchange for merely Google Talk's minimal user base. They'd have to offer something else to make this happen.

      It makes sense for

  • Gaim posted this news yesterday (Score:4, Informative)

    by AlistairMcMillan ( 230321 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @02:54PM (#13784388) Homepage
    This was posted on the gaim.sf.net front page [sourceforge.net] yesterday:
    I (Sean) have been hired by Google, moved to Seattle, and have been working on the Google Talk team for about a month and a half. The goal of Google Talk is to make real-time communication as open as possible, and in that regard, I've been working to offer all of Google Talk's features into other clients. Currently, I'm working on making it as easy as possible for other clients to use Google Talk's voice features. You can expect Gaim and other clients to be interoperable with Google Talk's voice features in the near future.

  • That sound you just heard...... (Score:5, Funny)

    by 8127972 ( 73495 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @03:07PM (#13784562)
    ...... was a chair hitting a wall in Redmond Washington.
  • Well, sort of, and for free:

    I installed GoogleTalk on the first day, but it kept crashing.

    So I set up Gaim to use my Google account, and never started GT again.

    I can sure undesrtand why Google would need someone from Gaim.

    ( Besides, since it's also Gsomething, they had to )

  • in other google hiring news (Score:5, Interesting)

    by adpowers ( 153922 ) on Thursday October 13, 2005 @03:51PM (#13785115)
    This is a little offtopic, but it is probably the most relevant article that I can post it in.

    Google is looking for Mac developers [blogspot.com]. Signs of more cross platform software coming from the Googleplex?
  • This is a little offtopic, but it is probably the most relevant article that I can post it in.

    Google is looking for Mac developers [blogspot.com]. Signs of more cross platform software coming from the Googleplex?

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