Google Talk
|
|
| Developer(s) |
Google Inc. |
| Initial release |
August 24, 2005; 7 years ago |
| Stable release |
Plugin Windows:
3.19.1.13088 (May 14, 2013; 25 days ago) |
| Preview release |
Google Talk Labs Edition |
| Operating system |
Android,
BlackBerry OS,
Linux,
Maemo,
webOS,
Symbian,
iOS (third party apps),
Windows,
Google Chrome OS,
Mac OS X |
| Available in |
English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese, Spanish |
| Type |
VoIP/instant messaging client |
| License |
Proprietary |
| Website |
www.google.com/talk www.google.com/talk/labsedition talkgadget.google.com/talkgadget/popout |
Google Talk is an instant messaging service that provides both text and voice communication.The instant messaging service is colloquially known as "gchat" to its users, although Google does not endorse this name.
Google Talk is also the name of the client applications offered by
Google to access the service. Google Talk applications are available for
Microsoft Windows (
XP,
Server 2003,
Vista, and
Windows 7),
Android,
Blackberry,
and
Google Chrome OS operating systems.
A Google Talk web app was previously available for Android, but has been discontinued. The native Android version still exists
Because the Google Talk servers communicate with clients using an open protocol, Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol
XMPP,
the service can also be accessed using any other client that supports
XMPP. Such clients are available for a number of operating systems not
supported by the Google Talk client
Google Talk uses extensions to XMPP for voice/video signaling and peer-to-peer communication. As of August 2012, Google Talk’s implementation differs slightly from the draft XMPP
Jingle specifications. In 2012, Google stated that an update was under way.
Features
Interoperability
Google has announced that a major goal of the Google Talk service is
interoperability. Google Talk used
XMPP to provide real-time extensible messaging and
presence events,
including offline messaging and voice mailing. Google Talk supported
messaging with any service provider that supports the XMPP protocol.
This included
Earthlink,
Gizmo Project,
Tiscali,
Netease,
Chikka,
MediaRing, and, according to Google, "thousands of other ISPs, universities, corporations and individual users."
[8]
Other
XMPP clients such as
Pidgin and
Psi[9] were compatible
[10] with Google Talk's text chat (IM), allowing text chat with XMPP users on a variety of platforms.
Product integration
Google Talk was integrated into Gmail. Users can send instant
messages to other Gmail users. As it works within a browser, the Google
Talk client does not need to be downloaded to send instant messages to
Gmail users.
Conversation logs are automatically saved to a
Chats area in
the user's Gmail account. This allows users to search their chat logs
and have them centrally stored in their Gmail accounts. For a long time
it wasn't possible to directly download chat logs that are not attached
to an e-mail conversation,
[11][12] although some workarounds had been found.
[13][14]
However, on September 15, 2011, Google announced a new feature of its
Google Takeout program that allows users to download chat logs via IMAP.
[15]
Google has also integrated Google Talk with
Orkut. This enables Google Talk users to interact with registered Orkut users, by sending and receiving 'scraps' within Orkut.
Google Talk Gadget is a web based module that may be embedded in
iGoogle and other web pages, allowing text chat with users of Google
Talk.
[16]
Google+
is integrated into Google Talk. In the standalone client and the Google
Talk widget embedded into Gmail and Google+, Google+ contacts appear in
the contacts list; their respective circles are shown in Google+'s
iteration of the widget.
Voice and Video
It is possible to place and receive phone calls from within gmail by
using Google Talk. In order to receive calls, however, the user must
upgrade to a full
Google Voice account.
[17] Initially, users outside of the US cannot upgrade to a full Google Voice account and cannot receive phone calls in Gmail.
[18] (Outbound calling though gmail does not require Google Voice and is available in many countries outside the US.)
[19] Google Talk allows users to leave a voicemail for a contact whether or not they are signed into Google Talk.
[20]
Messages can be up to 10 minutes long and are sent to the recipient's
email. Messages can be sent with or without first ringing the
recipient's phone number.
Google also provides a Voice and Video Chat browser plugin
[21] (not to be confused with the standalone Google Talk client) that supports voice and video chat between
Gmail users.
[22] The plugin is available for Windows (XP, Vista, and 7),
Mac OS X (only on
Intel-based Macs),
[23] and
Linux (
Debian, Ubuntu, Fedora, and
OpenSUSE packages available, but the binaries work on other systems).
[24] The plugin must be downloaded and installed, but otherwise seamlessly integrates into the
Gmail interface.
Encryption
The connection between the Google Talk client and the Google Talk
server is encrypted, except when using Gmail's chat over HTTP, a
federated network
that doesn't support encryption, or when using a proxy like IMLogic.
End-to-end messages are unencrypted. Google plans to add support for
chat and call encryption in a future release. Some XMPP clients natively
support encryption with Google Talk's servers. It is possible to have
end-to-end encryption over the Google Talk network using
OTR (off-the-record) encryption using other chat clients like
Adium (for Mac) or
Pidgin (for Linux).
Google's version of "Off the Record" is not
OTR (off-the-record) encryption. Enabling "Off the record" inside Gmail's Chat turns off logging of messages, but does not enable encryption.
Offline messaging
On October 31, 2006, Google introduced offline messaging to Google
Talk. This allows users to send messages to their contacts, even if they
are not signed in. They will receive the messages when they next go
online even if the user who has sent it is offline. This only works
between gmail-accounts though, and doesn't work between Google Talk
servers and other XMPP servers.
Mobile device compatibility
On June 30, 2006, Nokia released new software for their
Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, that included Google Talk as one of the compatible VoIP clients, because of the XMPP-based software.
Another Google Talk-compatible device is
Sony's
mylo, released on September 15, 2006. A Google Talk client is also available for BlackBerry devices from the Blackberry site.
Google Talk support is also integrated in Google Android devices, but
does not support voice and video calls below Android version 2.3.4. This
was released in April 2011 for the Google Nexus S.
However, given that Google Talk provides XMPP protocol, most mobile phones for which a suitable XMPP client exists
could also offer Google Talk service, at least theoretically (depending
on the handset, the user may encounter security warnings because of
unsigned
Java ME
midlets or limits put in place by the mobile service provider). Mobile
clients specially designed for Google Talk exist as well.
Most phones support the
IMPS protocol, and there are hybrid XMPP/IMPS networks (through
XMPP transports, or specially designed hybrid servers),
which can also contact GoogleTalk users. The Google Talk service itself
is unusable from IMPS (that means, you cannot log with your Gmail
account, but you can talk with your Gmail friends with your IMPS account
from your mobile phone).
For most smartphones, including Symbian-based as well as Android, third-party applications such as
Nimbuzz and
Fring include support for Google Talk accounts, including VoIP calls.
Text formatting
Google Talk does not provide the user with a menu for text
formatting. Nevertheless Google talk does support some text formatting
features like making text bold and italic. To write message in bold, a
user should type the required text between two asterisks (*), for
example *this text would be bold in Google Talk*. Similarly for making
text italic, one should put text between underscores (_) and for
strike-through in text content one should put text in between dashes
(-). This only functions in some of the Google native tools, and does
not always function as expected when received from other XMPP clients.
History
After the
rumor of a Google-branded "communications tool" service had been reported by
The New York Times and detailed by the
Los Angeles Times on August 22, 2005, the
subdomain talk.google.com was found to have an active XMPP server
.
Two methods of logging into the server were discovered soon after and
the ensuing response by eager bloggers revealed to numerous others how
to log in before the official release by Google.
On the evening of August 23, many logged-in users using
port
5222 to connect were disconnected and unable to log back in. Users
using port 5223 to connect were still able to log in, and at 04:12:52
UTC those users received a broadcast instant message from
gmail.com,
an apparently official username used by Google to communicate with
their user base, that stated "The broken link has been fixed. Thanks for
being our first users!" Port 5222-connectivity was found to have been
re-enabled. On August 24, Google Talk was officially launched.
On December 15, 2005, Google released
libjingle,a
C++ library to implement
Jingle, "a set of extensions to the
IETF's Extensible Messaging and Presence Protocol (XMPP) for use in voice over IP (
VoIP), video, and other peer-to-peer multimedia sessions."
Libjingle is a library of the code that Google uses for
peer-to-peer communication, and was made available under a
BSD license.
On January 17, 2006, Google enabled
server-to-server communications,
federating itself with any XMPP server that supports the dialback protocol.
On February 7, 2006, Gmail added the ability to chat with a built-in XMPP client.
On February 7, 2006,
Gmail received chat functionality,
using
Ajax for server–browser communication, and was integrated with Google Talk.
In 2006 Google reported that they were working on adding new features such as supporting
SIP in a future release, which would broaden the userbase for the program.
In August of that year Google's and eBay's announced that they would
look into making Google Talk users able to communicate with
Skype: "The companies will also explore interoperability between Skype and Google Talk via open standards to enable
text chat and online presence."
However with
Microsoft's acquisition of Skype on May 10, 2011 such interoperability might have been suspended between Google and eBay.
Google integrated Google Talk with
Orkut on November 8, 2006.
On March 14, 2007, Google released the Google Talk Gadget, an
Adobe Flash-based
Talk module that can be added to iGoogle (formally the Google
Personalized Homepage) or embedded in any web page, thus, allowing one
to chat from any operating system which is supported by
Adobe Flash Player as long as
Adobe Flash Player is installed.
A screen shot was posted on May 18, 2007 as part of the Google Apps presentation, showing some phone integration in Google Talk.
A Google engineer confirmed they have been using it internally for some time on March 2, 2008.
On November 26, 2007, Google Talk released Group Chat capabilities.
Before this, users could chat with only one person per window. Group
chat allows many users to chat with each other in an environment similar
to
IRC.
On December 6, 2007, Google upgraded its Gmail integrated chat to include
AOL Instant Messenger
chat capability. This allows Gmail users to sign into the AIM chat
service and communicate with any AIM user while still being signed on to
the Google Talk service. The Google Talk gadget and client have not
been upgraded to enable this feature yet, and no announcement has been
made as to when it will be made available.
On February 25, 2008, Google added a feature called chatback, which
allows a Google Talk account owner to chat with people who don't have
one. The account owner first has to create a badge, which can be
included in webpages. This badge shows the current availability of the
owner. Clicking on the badge results a chat request notification to the
owner who can respond by clicking on the specified URL. During the
conversation both parties have to use the Google Talk Gadget and both
parties remain anonymous to each other, even the Google Account name of
the owner is not revealed to the other peer.
On November 11, 2008, Google Chat (voice and video chat) was launched enabling computer to computer voice and video chat.
Clues from one of the first
Google Chrome December 2008 revisions suggests that a new Talk client is in the works.
Google came out with a Voice and Video Chat browser plugin in 2008.
As XMPP Jingle specifications
became a Draft Standard, Google updated libjingle to version 0.5.1and stated that "Google Talk is in the process of being updated to be in full compliance with the Jingle specifications."
A screenshot showing the Google Talk, Labs Edition preview release
Google has a version of Google Talk called Google Talk, Labs edition,
though it lacks many features of Google Talk's other releases.
On April 20, 2012, Google announced that it was shutting down the mobile web app for Google Talk.
Future
In June 2012 Google announced that they were planning to revamp the
chat experience by merging Google Talk with Hangouts and Google
Messenger to reduce confusion and fragmentation.
At the Google I/O Conference 2013 held at San Francisco, California,
Google announced that they were replacing Google Talk, Google+ Messenger
and the original Google+ Hangout video chat service with
Google+ Hangouts.
On May 15th, 2013, Nikhyl Singhal stated at Google I/O the move to
Google+ Hangouts will mean that XMPP (the protocol that allowed Google
Talk to interoperate with other vendors and applications) will no longer
be supported. This also ends the Google "open offer to
interoperate forever" that Larry Page stated on the same day when talking about the Google Instant Messaging service.
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