# Google Talk vs. Skype

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-talk-vs-skype/334528>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 7, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-talk-vs-skype/334528 "2005-12-07T18:03:33Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Caffeine.addict](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f475e1/32.png) [@Caffeine.addict](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caffeine.addict)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-talk-vs-skype/334528/1 "2005-12-07T18:03:33Z")

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Which do you prefer?

I’ve been using Skype for about two weeks or so. It works well for me and I downloaded a video plugin that lets me make video calls. I was checking my gmail account and I see Google Talk.

How is that? Does anybody use it? Does it have video capabilities? Is there any advantage to using it. I noticed that it doesn’t have a way to call out to landlines like Skype does.

Which do you use and why?

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**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-talk-vs-skype/334528/2 "2005-12-07T18:56:22Z")

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Didn’t Google buy Skype?

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**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\
**Post date:** [December 7, 2005, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/google-talk-vs-skype/334528/3 "2005-12-07T19:09:44Z")

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> [@Quartz](#):
>
> Didn’t Google buy Skype?

Nope, that was eBay that bought Skype.