[Wocky] Google Talk and the future of IM

[Greg Hudson]

Google has recently introduced an instant messaging service (still in
beta) called Google Talk.  It uses the Jabber client-to-server
protocol, which is good news because it will encourage improvements in
Jabber client support.

Unfortunately, it could have been much better news--they could have
supported the Jabber server-to-server protocol so that MIT Jabber
users could talk to Google Talk users.  As it stands, Google Talk will
provide no incentive for users to use the MIT Jabber server; instead,
it will just add another closed instant messaging network to the
existing mix.

Google's FAQ at http://www.google.com/talk/about.html#open says:

  Today, with instant communications, you can't talk to your contacts
  or buddies in one service while using another service.  We hope to
  change that.  We want to work with other willing service providers
  to enable their users to communicate directly with Google Talk
  users.

http://www.google.com/talk/developer.html#service_5 says:

  5. I am a communications service provider and want to federate with
     the Google Talk service. How do I proceed?

  Please contact us at federation at google.com.

While I'm sure they're mainly hoping to get mail from directors at AOL
and MSN, we might consider drafting a note to send to
federation at google.com asking them to open their server to other Jabber
servers.  Enough polite and well-worded requests from people like us
might nudge them in the right direction.

For more on this, there's an excellent piece at
http://www.livejournal.com/users/nugget/97081.html which I agree with
fully.