Google released their instant messaging / voice over IP client last night, and to use it one needs a gmail account.
I have 50 invites again, so anybody who wants one to try it (or to just get a gmail account) feel free to send a request to revtim at gmail dot com with an appropriately descriptive subject line.
An AP story I read today said:
but the Gmail site still says:
Interesting. Maybe the open registration is impending?
They might as well, I doubt there’s many people left who want one but haven’t got one. Their userbase will barely increase when they make it open, I’ll wager.
Got a few requests, but still have plenty to give! Keep those requests coming. Lurkers welcome too, doesn’t have to be a board member.
I’m waaay curious about their IM client, but nothing I’ve read makes it clear (to me) whether it plays well with other formats: do you know if I’ll be able to send IMs to friends who use AOL? If so, I’ll send you an e-mail and get myself an invite. 
Misnomer, I caught half of a blurb on CNN today about it; I’m pretty sure they said it doesn’t work with AIM or other clients.
And if anyone wants a gmail invitation, my e-mail’s in my profile; I have 50 of them too. In fact, the last time I sent one to somebody, I still had 50 afterward.
:dubious:
No, unfortunately there’s no interoperability with other IM systems. And, there’s fewer features. The only thing it really has going for it right now is that it’s using an open IM format, Jabber, and can be used with several other clients (such as Gaim, which I use to connect to AIM and Yahoo IM and MSN Messenger as well).
I have no doubt though that they will add some really cool features(s) in the future. One web article I saw speculated that they could use speech recongnition to target ads to the user, and use this revenue to pay for free (to the user) PC to land-line phone calls. Which actually would suck for me, because they would then compete directly with the company I work for…
Drat. I’ve used AOL, Trillian, and now GAIM, and haven’t been 100% happy with any of them (though GAIM is the best of the three) … I was hoping that Google would have my “perfect” IM client. Oh well.
Skype? Vonage?
I’ve never used Vonage, but my main project at work has started using Skype’s free service in lieu of conference calls (several team members telecommute regularly). So far, so good. I’m curious about Google’s free PC-to-PC voice service, too, but not as much as I was curious about the IM client.
I probably shouldn’t say.
You could have just said “yes.” 
(Or “no,” whatever the case may be.) No problem, just curious.
Tested out Google Talk’s voice feature yesterday and it really is very good. The sound quality was far better than Yahoo’s, and there was minimal lag. As someone who has spent many, many hours using Yahoo voice (and was thrilled when the new Yahoo beta came out, improving many of the old voice chat’s issues), this definitely gets my vote.
Well, I’m about to get hit by a likely hurricane, so I probably won’t be online to give any more invites soon. Until further notice, it might be better to request invites from some of the other people offering them, like jackalope above the folks in this thread: http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=331782
I also have a seemingly endless supply of invites to give out for any who might want them.
You stay dry, Revtim.
Good news, the storm only caused me some brownouts and knocked out my cell phone service (I guess the towers were damaged).
I’m up to 49 invites again, so keep those requests coming!
And now I have 100 invites! I never even got below 40 before.
Even the mildly curious should ask for one, there’s no way I will run out.
Send requests to revtim at gmail dot com, with a descriptive subject line.
Even if you just want to try the email and don’t care about the IM/VOIP client, go ahead and ask me for one.
Lurkers/non-members are welcome to ask for invites as well.