Well it’s about time…

ATTENTION : Refer to previous posts for apology about not posting. Thanks a bunch.

This post is about Google Talk. Now, if anyone bothered to delve into the archives of this blog (I know no one actually has, but I keep my hopes high…), you might have noticed that the second post on this blog was about the GMail + GTalk combo.

It’s not as if I’m suffering from memory loss or anything, it’s just that the guys at Google have been busy. Here’s a clue…they’ve teamed up with a company called Vidyo. Now, if you’re so thick headed that you couldn’t figure that out, go boil your head.

God that feels SO good to be saying that again…(nostalgia)…wiping away non-existent tears…yeah whatever…

GTalk remains my IM (Instant Messaging) client of choice. I liked the simplicity and frugality. It was easy on system resources, and didn’t take ages to load up. But all this did come at a price…it was pretty anaemic when it came to features…stuff that was standard on other popular IM clients like Windows Live Messenger and Yahoo! Messenger. Stuff like video conferencing, and even the most basic kind of text conferencing, were missing.

It was weird though, because Google does have a web version of GTalk, called the Google Talk Gadget, can be accesed here, and clicking on Launch Google Talk Gadget. This gadget does have support for normal text conferencing.

The’ve also got a Google Talk Labs Edition, which is like a version of the Talk Gadget, to run straight off PCs, and not through a web browser. I don’t use it too much, because it doesn’t let me display the music I’m listening to. I know that’s stupid, but that’s the way I am.

Then they’ve got the GMail edition GTalk, which doesn’t come with group chat…but it does come with something I’ve wanted for a long time…video chat! Yes, it’s finally come to GTalk, and boy, is it about time… To enable Video chat, go to GMail, and click on the link at the top right bar. A no-prompt installation follows, and then you can also invite your pals who are online by hovering your mouse over their name in the Contacts list, and clicking on More, and then Invite to video chat…or something of that sorts.

Haven’t yet found anyone online to actually try it, but I guess it should work just fine…