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August 29, 2005
Google Talk & the IM Pecking Order
I was talking with a buddy over Google Talk last night and was amazed at how crystal clear the call was... better than Skype and really better than my cell phone! So I was surprised to see this blog entry entitled "Google Talk Blows". LOL! Google Talk is very simple yes, but the voice feature has effectively reached perfection.
To be fair to the MSN Messenger team I decided to talk to the same buddy using their shiny new IM client. Here is exactly what MSN Messenger printed to the screen:
Corey B. is inviting you to start a Voice Conversation. Do you want to accept (Alt+C) or decline (Alt+D) the invitation? You have accepted the invitation to start a Voice Conversation. Harris says: We are currently unable to set up this conversation. Please try again. The Voice Conversation with Corey B. has ended. Harris says: You have invited Corey B. to start a Voice Conversation. Please Corey B. has accepted your invitation to start a Voice Conversation. Corey B. says: The Voice Conversation with Corey B. has ended. |
We never talked over MSN; maybe the service was just having a bad night, but it didn't even work. Apparently this "feature" is even listed as "...Awesome Audio Quality Improvements"??? Riiiight. One thing that struck me though is that with this level of brokeness, MSN Messenger could actually function as a rejection service... when someone who you don't want to actually call asks for your IM, give them your MSN handle and rest assured that their call won't get through! Brilliant!
MSN Messenger exhorted me to "Please try again." I did... this time with GoogleTalk, and what do you know... a nice clear voice connection... ahhhh... free calls that work and work well. GoogleTalk Blows MSN Messenger Away!
The true king of IM though is Yahoo... they even allow you to leave voice messages... plus the audibles are hilarious and for some reason it is the only package that supports offline messages.
Of course by the numbers AOL is first (mainly from the teeny bopper crowd) followed by Yahoo and MSN, with GTalk just out of the gate. If GTalk becomes the one service to bind them all then it may get some traction as well. From a technical perspective however, the IM pecking order is more like this: 1) Yahoo 2) GTalk (simple but fantastic voice) Tied for Last) AIM and MSN Msgr.
Rants, Flames and other sundry commentary welcome.
Posted by harris at August 29, 2005 11:13 PM
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