January 13, 2007

Google Talk to Interoperate with AIM This Year

One of the interesting things from the Google - AOL deal in 2005 was this line: "Enabling Google Talk and AIM instant messaging users to communicate with each other, provided certain conditions are met." Apparently, Google didn't forget about that.

Justin Uberti, who joined Google after working on AIM for almost 9 years, comments on this issue:

I've seen a number of comments on the web regarding the previously announced interoperability plans between AIM and Google Talk, especially as the one-year anniversary of the announcement came up at the end of December. Nothing yet has made it into the hands of users, leading some to wonder whether it is actually going to happen. (...)

On the Google side, I can simply refer to our official statement, and give our stock answer, "We are working actively on integrating AIM access in Google Talk." (...) AOL also appears to be working on an XMPP gateway for AIM, which would allow XMPP/Jabber clients to access the AIM network using AIM screen names. Based on the public information, it looks like this should be available in the near future.

One way or another, looks like 2007 is shaping up to be an exciting year.

Although Justin doesn't explicitly say that Google Talk and AIM will interoperate this year, it's clear that both Google and AOL are working on that and the results should be visible in the near future.

10 comments:

  1. that's good to hear... now if only they'd do the same with msn, then it'd be gold.

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  2. Yus, and yahoo, skype..etc if possible too.

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  3. actually, you can already do this with a little customization
    go to this link
    follow the directions, and you can talk with almost anyone from any service, including yahoo, msn, AIM, ICQ, and IRC
    it says to use "ursine.ca" in the instructions, though
    that didn't work for me, so i ended up using "jabber.3gnt.org"
    there are more choices for jabber servers here

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  4. Oh!, thank you Jake.

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  5. They are finally getting a move on with this I see. GoogleTalk's main problem is connecting with other clients, most people don't want a Google account, mainly because they require an invite and are not the most popular things at the moment. If GoogleTalk connects with other clients, it means it is an alternative to your favourite client.

    However I don't know what Google are going to do about Yahoo! and MSN Messenger, because their protocols are totally different. In order to succeed they need to think about connecting with these huge giants in Instant Messaging.

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  6. Is there any way to hack gtalk to make it work with Skype yet?

    http://googletalk.blogspot.com/2006/08/talking-with-skype.html

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  7. This works for me. I tried using Google talk maybe once but I don't like leaving Google accounts open so it has not become an option for me. I do like the use of aim and people from Google talking to you there.

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  8. For me GTalk is easiest messenger to use. Main problem is must have Google Account to use it and very few people that rather use Yahoo or MSN messenger than Google.

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  9. It's been many months and still no results. I'm waiting, Google. We don't care about the Google Talk gadget, we care about the desktop client, and we care about AIM interoperability.

    Dude, Google needs to move their ass.

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  10. It's 2009 and still, nothing....

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