Instant messaging, named Google Talk, is available directly from within Gmail. Both applications share the same contacts. The following icons indicate the status of each contact:
From left to right, the contact is: available to chat, available to chat in audio and video, is online but busy, is online but absent for the moment, offline right now
Behind the scenes, Gmail automatically determines which user you contact most often, and then incorporates those into the Google Talk list. It is possible, though, to check an option in Google Talk so that the system explicitly asks whether or not the contact should be added to the chat list.
Google Talk offers group chat. Each user can invite several other users in a chat:
On the left, the integrated Gtalk widget with presence indicators. On the right, an example of a group chat.
With Google Talk, you can chat with users that belong to other domains and therefore to other companies. This feature will prove particularly useful for communications with partners, customers, and suppliers.
To use video and audio chat, it is necessary to first install the Google Gears plugin. Chrome OS users are exempt from this prerequisite because the latest versions (4.0) natively include these features. With the forthcoming advent of HTML 5, it is likely that this plugin will no longer be necessary.
Video chat within the browser through Google Talk.
To help discretely get rid of intruders and other boring people, Google Talk proposes to "block" them. Once a contact has been blocked he or she won't be able to communicate with you anymore and you won't see the contact's name in your list either. Should you return to better feelings later, you can always unblock the contact and then start new conversations.
Note that Google Talk now offers an "invisible" mode that allows masking your presence while still allowing you to see your contacts' online status.
Instant translation is available on Google Talk. Simply invite a virtual contact (technically called a "bot") that will act as a translator in the conversation. Once it has been invited, it will always be present in the following chats:
Translation in action within Google Talk instant messaging. The English to French translation uses the "bot" named [email protected].
Most multi-protocol instant messaging clients (Adium, Pidgin, Miranda,…) can connect to Google Talk. The Google Talk Gadget that only exists for the Windows platform is of interest for two primary reasons:
- It can transfer large files between two users with no practically no size limitation, as opposed to mail attachments (< 20 MB)
- It also sends a real time notification when a new a mail message arrives in the Gmail inbox
The Google Talk Gadget, which is available for Windows only. It can transfer large files between two users.