On Google Talk

Thankfully, Wired News already wrote pretty much what I was going to about Google Talk. In short, it’s so rudimentary that it almost doesn’t matter.

It’s disappointing that Google continuously treats Mac users as second-class citizens, and the Windows-only Talk is no exception. Sure, it’s just a Jabber server, and I can chat with Talk users via iChat, Adium, or the like. Doing so means I can’t take advantage of Talk’s voice chat, however, and that’s its only advanced feature.

I could see Talk getting interesting if their next version works on multiple platforms, actually has significant interface improvements over other IM clients, and bridges networks (Google Talk <=> AIM, or Google Talk <=> MSN, for example).

Until then, Google is starting to run the risk of matching Microsoft not only in its behemoth size and pervasiveness, but in the blandness of its offerings as well.