Google Talk Integrates With GMail.

You know, I’ve posted a few rants about Google over the past few weeks. They’re getting called on the carpet across the board, for good reason, and I’m no different.

But I am an avid Gmail user. Have been since I got my invitation over a year and a half ago. I used to switch between email services because I could never find something I liked, something that fit my style perfectly, until Gmail came along. Once it did, I switched and never looked back; as far as I’m concerned, Gmail is the penultimate email program. I just don’t think anyone can do it better.

And now they’ve gone and added Google Talk to Gmail. I’m actually a huge fan of Google Talk and probably will use it full-time whenever they get it working with AIM. Hell, if they get it working with Yahoo, I’ll never have a reason to fire up Trillian again. I like simplicity and elegance, and Google Talk is both; now they’ve integrated it with my favorite email application, adding the ability to save chats natively in Gmail and contact people on your buddy list from directly within the Gmail app itself. I use a plugin for Trillian to save my chats directly to Gmail, and this cuts out a step in the process, saving me and everyone else time.

I have no problem telling Google when I think they’re doing bad things. They’ve done a lot of bad things lately. But I also have no problem congratulating them when they release something like this, because no matter how small it may seem, it makes life a lot easier in certain aspects, and that’s something I will always appreciate.