Google’s long-rumoured IM service is out of the starting gate. Google Talk.

This is a big deal, as it appears to be (a) super-simple, Google-style, (b) voice-enabled, (c) built on Jabber/XMPP – the right decision, as we have long advocated, and naturally interoperable with our own BuddySpace and dozens of other clients, at least at the basic IM level. Hey- I notice that they even use the BuddySpace icon set (essentially) for their presence indicators; wise choice! Hope we get some attribution…

More later when I get a chance to hammer it, but I expect it to be good. I also expect someone to do a Google Talk / Google Maps bilateral hack to give them BuddySpace functionality… interesting to watch.

This also provides a long-awaited ’seal of approval’ for Jabber/XMPP, already an agreed IETF standard, but languishing in the wings waiting for a big player like Google to come on board… now we should see some phenomenal growth in the Jabber/XMPP arena.

Technorati Tags: IM, jabber, voip, google

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