Google Instant Messenger all Rumor

Jbravo writes "Search, blogging, maps, photos, email, and now a portal, Google has kept adding to their array of services. Is an instant messenger next for Google? Most recently Google has been said to be buying out a company called Meetroduction, LLC for their instant messenger Meetro. So, is it true? Is Google writing the check now? Well, after a chat with Paul Bragiel, CEO of Meetroduction, the word is not right now. He called the whole story 'rumors.'"

Hello?

Wasn't this called "Hello"? See here:
http://www.google.com/intl/en/options/ [google.com]

Perhaps not the right approach for the market

A lot of people already have IM networks that they're locked into because their friends/contacts are happy with that network and use it. In europe, its extremely common for people to have MSN, whilst the trend stateside seems to be more toward AIM (with MSN still significant there too). Google could do better by adopting something like XMPP/Jabber and either using a client that supports MSN/AIM/ICQ protocols or the server-side protocol translation that Jabber supports. A solid Google IM client based on XMPP might be just what the standard needs to build profile (whilst still allowing easy adoption through MSN/AIM compatibility)

Re:Perhaps not the right approach for the market

Agreed. It is simply too much hassle for one to change instant messaging networks like that. Changing my e-mail to GMail was bad enough, but telling everybody to add your new contact name, or worse, telling them to download a client so they can chat to you exclusively is just out of the question for me.

Re:Perhaps not the right approach for the market

In europe, its extremely common for people to have MSN, whilst the trend stateside seems to be more toward AIM (with MSN still significant there too).

or you can get an awesome open-source program like miranda [miranda-im.org] which supports ICQ, AIM, MSN, Jabber, Yahoo, Gadu-Gadu, Tlen, Netsend and tons more... all in a ~3meg memory footprint.

Rumors and denials

Denials are almost a sure sign that something is up. Rumors, I don't know. But every time a company denies something, it seems it's actually confirmed shortly thereafter.

Too many already

Any company trying to roll out yet another instant messenger would be making a mistake. There are already three uber-popular, incompatible networks, not to mention the handful of smaller protocols. None of them really offer anything that the others don't have. Enough is enough.

Re:Too many already

and IRC from 1988 still beats them hands down.

Re:Too many already

Depends on the job you're doing. No webcams, voicechat, direct ims(read: pictures inside convos, great for screenshots), or any other 'rich' features

IRC is extendable enough that you can add it, and a few clients have tried in the past(VIRC), but theyre just not standardized enough to rely on.
Tis a shame too If someone made a nice client that actually offered these features it'd save me and my friends a lot of time/effort having to switch between irc/aim depending on what is needed. I of course prefer irc when possible, but if I have a screenshot in my buffer, I'd rather click direct connect and right click -> paste picture than open ms paint, paste, save to disk, /dcc send nick (path to one-off screenshot), delete screenshot.

As much as it would be cool...

we really don't need another IM program. I'll consider trying it, but I think the general IM'ing population won't want to change.

I'll change in a second -- and tell all of my friends to change -- if, somehow, it just blows everything else out of the water. This, however, seems unlikely.

Ummm, they already have an IM client...

Sure they don't advertise it, but Hello [hello.com] is a Google product...

Re:Ummm, they already have an IM client...

I don't know why moderators thought this was informative. It's in TFA.

Look out...

...sooner or later, Googlezon is coming.

The way it usually works....

considered rumor only from now until it actually gets announced....

"Rumours" is not a denial.

.. It is, to use the old phrase "a non-denial denial".

If the guy had said "It's just rumours and there is absolutely no truth in it" that would be one thing. Just saying "it's a rumour" is the polite equivalent of "no comment".

I would imagine that Paul Bragiel and his company is quite enjoying the attention, so it's not in his interests to decisively quash these rumours, so he's left things a little ambiguous.

Which of course means...

...that it is absolutely true. To butcher Shaekspeare :) ....

"...thou doest protest too much..."

Brilliant move by google if they do that.

Because people search google, an IM would be genius. People who search for the same thing could meet each other through google IM. Almost like how technorati and other sites do it, google could take it one step further. Imagine the waste IM client combined with the google search engine.

Google buying its technology?

Interesting that MS has to take a lot of flack here for using its "unfair" financial advantage to buy out companies for their tech (drawing comparisons to a vampire) whereas it has been perfectly okay for Google to do the same.

Re:Google buying its technology?

There's a perfectly good reason for that. Google has not used their purchases to smash their competitors out of existence. Take for example, Picasa. Used, publicized, integrated, and yet not accompanied by a huge push to take over that sector of the market. Or how about Gmail - beta pretty much forever, and then when it become open, there's no push to steal Hotmail or Yahoo customers. How about Blogger? There are APIs all over the place.

Google hasn't been "evil" with their purchases. In fact, pretty much everything they bought they starting giving away for free.

In related news...

...Google apparently aren't working on a main battle tank or a replacement for the Space Shuttle either.

Jabber?

If I where google, I'd go for a solution based on Jabber, as this allows

• Connectivity with other nets (MSN/AIM/Yahoo!)
• Connectivity with other jabber users
• Allows a p2p structure, which is cheap for google

The fact that the technology is there, might be impotrant for google, since it is a solution that just has to be deployed. Only problem might be how servers cope when they get 100K users, and how google will ensure connectivity with MSN et al without being sued for something...

Web-based client?

It doesn't have to be their own IM network. I could see Google coming out with a web-based IM client for an existing protocol, in line with their web-based desktop philosophy. I, for one, wouldn't mind seeing a nice lightweight AJAX-stylee IM client built into my google account for when im not at home.

Rumour about a rumour

Where is the story about rumours that Google would buy Meetro... This looks like a way to get people to visit the meetro website.

Orkut

I think that if they make a instant messenger that uses Orkut [orkut.com] database will be really cool.

It was all rumours when Britney was pregnant, too-

- which just means, well, nothing. Businesses do not disclose financial obligations based upon speculation, unless you're being investigated by an agency of the government.

Check back in 3 months.

How about fixing GMail first?

GMail users are experiencing problems since friday if their adress consists of non-alphanumerical characters. While emails arrive at [e-mail], they do not arrive at [e-mail]. Google claims to ignore these characters, and many people have choosen to give their adress to their contacts with points.

Google has not yet responded to bug reports.

I certainly hope this is a temporal problem and emails are not lost.

right move

people are saying: "next IM? -no space on the net", but the same was with email - there were also thousends of mail providers before google and anyway google succeded!

Why not?

Google could take IM any day, if they bought skype they wouldnt even need to do much re-branding!

Im still waiting for google calendar, theres just no good calander/task program thats remote, syncable, and cross-platform, unless im missing something..

Google would be insane to buy Meetro

Meetro's key innovations. Their elevator statement is. Let's go into desperate internet cafes and ask them to setup 802.11b (hah 1!) and install Meetro clients (hah 2!) and get these internet cafes to register with Meetro their Geo-coded locations (hah 3!). The idea is if all three stages are done, the 30 people on Meetro can login at anytime and Meetro will automatically announce where you are to your friends. hah 1: Internet cafes aren't cool places where you bring your laptop and surf a little on 802.11b. It's a cigarette-smoking place full of loud noisy teenagers dying to pwn you on the internet. hah 2: The typical internet cafe already has at least 5 instant messengers, and all of them have 500,000,000 more users than Meetro. hah 3: Internet Cafes don't want to be found. They pirate software--a lot of it. They don't want walk in traffic of socialites wanting to meet each others (come in, spend 5 minutes, and then leave). They want internet addicts who stay for hours. Look, Meetro WILL generate a temporary buzz. Oh geo-coding!! HOW COOL!! Oh little brother snooping!! How CONTROVERSIAL!! Meetro is in beta and they are lost. Many instant messenger out there has been so-so followers with no clear innovations. Perhaps I am being too harsh, but Meetro does not have a gripe on what people really want. If people want to fuck. They will use a sex dating site. If people want to meet up, what's really at stake is a good calendar or events planner. Franklin and the 5,000,000 workgroup email solutions are already fighting in this space (admittedly to no-one's satisfaction). There's like 30 members on it now--why would Google buy this? Who ever submitted this story is just getting Meetro on the map, getting it on Slashdot to make it legit. You have to do what you can to promote your business, but this is clearly astroturfing.

The net needs some really local approach

I went on the site of the mentionned company [meetro.com] and it features a flash movie stating it's an IM that connects you with other buddies geographically near you (like 0.25 mile) and with the same interests...

If this was true, I think it could be very interesting: sometimes nice events happen in my neighborhood and I just miss them because I didn't know there was something happening... or those who don't know their neighbors? (disclosure: I know my neighbors!)

An app allowing you to discover the life in your community (neighbohood) while letting you to remain anonymous (if wanted) would be a hit. You could subscribe to local RSS feeds about social/cultural events, for example or find the association you were looking for.

To be used, such IM app would need to function with minimal self-disclosure... with IPs? I know there are free databases [webhosting.info] to segment IP per countries but, what about IP per cities/neighborhoods? Does anyone know something about that?

The net performs great to access stuff by subject but performs poorly to find things near me.

Revenue Source?

Most important for any service that Google provides that makes it out of beta is revenue generation. If it doesn't make money, there is no need to pour cash and brainpower in to develop it. So, how would Google make money? I see three posibilities. First would be to use the standard model of banner ads that infest the tops of AIM. Second would be to sell the product, like DeadAim http://www.jdennis.net/ [jdennis.net] or Trillian Pro http://www.ceruleanstudios.com/ [ceruleanstudios.com]. Both of these solutions are not typical of Google products. The last option would be for contextual ads, like in GMail. This is an option that would be very server intensive (real time ad generation) and creepy, as Google would be reading all the messages that go in and out. So, in summation, instant messaging does not seem to be a market that appeals to the core of Google's buisness plan. Changes may arise, but all in all, this seems like a venture that Google would stay out of.

gmail instant messenger would be smarter move

Integrating a chat mode to gmail would be a nice way to go. I think people would love to just use their email account for messaging. and then have the conversations show up in gmail along with the rest of their emails. It solves the messaging problem and allows them to get a email client onto peoples computers. If they could do it through a web interface (not sure how that would work as far as socket connections) even better. no new client to install. just go to their website, log in and chat/email. not sure how a gateway to other services would fit into this, but that would be another plus.

Not your mother's IM client

Though I agree that the IM client market is over-saturated I also feel that if Google were to take on a client for itself there would be something unique about it.

This Meetro IM client (http://www.meetro.com/ [meetro.com] does posess something that sets it apart from all of the other clients/metaclients: Location based contacts. If you are in Sandusky OH and want to meet up with other people who share the same interests as you do for a day at Cedar Point, go to a wi-fi connected spot in town and find someone local or visiting who wants to go.

Give it a peek.

Well...

...what's he supposed to say?

Did i start this rumor?

Seriously... http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=110949&cid=941 7410 [slashdot.org]

"People Won't Come"

That's a bunch of rubbish. Think of the millions of hits Google get's a day. Now, just pop a little thing on there saying "New! Google IM!" and boom: the majority of Slashdot and the internet tech crowd downloads it. It goes into the paper the next day generating more downloads. I don't think they would even need to do a gaim type thing and crossover to AIM and whatnot.

Think of the possibilities though. The ability to google any text someone sends you. Online and offline chat (ala ICQ) via Gmail (maybe set it up so that if you're offline and someone tries to send you a message its forwarded to your Gmail account or something). They could do all sorts of fun stuff.

For Mac Users...

For Mac users tired of having AIM, MSN and Yahoo! open at the same time, the solution is here [adiumx.com]

Mapping outt ssocial networks.

A messenger cliennt ( Jabber based, pleeeeease ) would enable Google to map out how people know other peoplee - much like they've been ablle to do by mmaking Gmmail invite onlyy.
Yyes, I am suffering the ddoubble keypress in X.

I hope it will come

In europe, people either use ICQ (which is slowly dying), but mostly they use MSN.
And MSN is specifically targetted at highschool teens, with alot of annoying features, which many people from the pre MSN era dispise of (atleast myself).

I think there is a market for people who want a clean no-nonsense messenger. Alot of people I know use alternative messengers like miranda/trillian/etc to escape from the annoying native clients, but they all have their limitations. And currently I think only google would be capable of competing with the ever growing MSN userbase in europe.

And talking about trillian, did anyone notice that development of trillian has taken a hit? It's very quiet on the website, while on the boards people keeping reporting issue's. Would be ashame (even though it's not freeware like miranda) if trillian would die, it would drive alot of people back to msn/aim native clients.

What Google needs to do

If Google are heading into the IM direction they need to do it right. Meaning to offer something which is lacking on the competitor front. I know ICQ has/had? this feature of sending messages to ppl even when they are not online. That needs to come back because sometimes an email is too much hassle. Second they need to make an IM client that will run on multiple platforms. ie, on Windows, Mac and above all Linux. MSN is the most popular IM on the net so far but none of them properly support all the OS's. Microsoft have a crappy client on the Mac and nothing on Linux. Google needs to put a universal client on all OS's with the same look 'n feel and the same functionality. Thats the most important thing any IM service should have but dont.

I know Google will do it right because they always do. Gmail is proof of they're success to new areas of service. As for an OS, that would take alot and seeing Google back Linux would be a great benefit for all and would help set Linux into the mainstream. With some of the innovations Linux is going to experience this year, would be a good oppertunity for Google to get they're foot in the door.

Think *BROWSER-BASED* IM

We can remember it for you wholesale.

That's what GMail does today, so where's the weak link? IM, where people do communicate a lot of information which gets lost to those who don't keep logs. There's already a very usable Webmessenger for MSN. Having this server-based means the log are available from anywhere. Heck, just getting rid of having a separate e-mail and IM program filling up my RAM my well be worth it.

Googles Problem

Googles biggest problem right now seems to be Click Fraud, as if they released an IM client, It would probably include Google Ad support. As far as I know, Ads is their main revenue source, aside from licensing IP, and if that's broke, they are broke.

From what I hear, they generally place the most expensive Ad first in a day, as without fraud, that would generate the most revenue. Unfortunetly, this allows Clickers to drain an advertisers account very quickly.

Effects of Rumours on Meetro's traffic

Perhaps it was only a rumour, but it had a very positive effect on Meetro:
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details? q=&url=meetro.com [alexa.com]

However, it's not necessary for that trend to continue. For instance, look at the Dodgeball spike:
http://www.alexa.com/data/details/traffic_details? q=&url=dodgeball.com [alexa.com]

IM is all well and good, but ...

It would really be nice if they stopped attacking in all directions and actually fixed something. Ok, they've got some really great technologies, such as Search and advertising. Orkut was a good idea, just not well implemented and a bit dated now. Scholar.google.com also a good idea but with out decent content, it might as well not exist.

Google needs focus. I'd really rather they stayed best at everything they choose to do, rather than attack in all directions.

IM that integrate with other IM's

I think google has a plan to where you can communicate with other IM's.

They could do it...

The IM industry is no where near perfect. There's a lot of room for improvement and change. I personally use an old version of AIM because I hate the new bulky version with all the stupid games and junk. Every time I click for someone's info I accidentally click that send a greeting crap. If anyone could just into the industry and make a presence it is google. They dont need to put ads in the client itself. Look at the desktop search, theres no ads in there. Theres so many neat features they could add that would not weigh down the client either. Many people have mentioned logging, with access from anywhere. Well if this was web based it can easily have some text relevant ads on it. If they made a web version of the IM client, they could do the same. Theres no positive effect of google making a cross platform instant messenger that is in use with there competition. Why would google help Microsoft or AOL? Theres no benefit from it. They would develop there own protocol. All the geeks and techies would download it and try it. I would surely love a client that isnt full of crap. Google could also sell corp instant messengers. There huge money to be made in that industry. Integrate IM with gmail and blogger and you control the way people communicate.

Meetro Interview

Here's my interview with Meetro's president. Hope you like. http://www.kbcafe.com/iBLOGthere4iM/?guid=20050811 175004 [kbcafe.com] He denied the rumours a few days ago.

Podcast with Meetro CEO

My colleague Jon Turow and I conducted a podcast interview with Meetro CEO Paul Bragiel which you can download from this blog post: http://www.minorityrapport.com/2005/08/podcast_for _817.html [minorityrapport.com]">http://www.minorityrapport.com/2005/08/ podcast_for_817.html. In the podcast, we chatted about competitors, privacy and security issues, among other things like the challenge to grow social networks. Thanks, Doug Sherrets

Google Instant Messenger Screenshot

Google instant messenger jabber alpha 0.068 [blogspot.com]

The screenshot is based on Jabber. Not sure if this is real ?

Interconnectivity

I can't see it happening, but a google IM solution that connects the major networks might be worthwhile. I.E. Infocombot3(AIM) sends a message to [e-mail] (MSN) who then proceeds to forward it to 4869088 (ICQ)

Google Talk is the Name

It's not a rumor Google Talk is the name and it's real...available now: http://www.google.com/talk [google.com]

Re:FunSharing is where it's at!

An apic ip? In Malaysia? Doubtful, very very doubtful, especially as a quick search shows it linked to as a shareaza / bit torrent site.

So are you link whoring, or what?

Re:The future is Google

Yes, my guess is a GoogleOS thin-client is not far off. Why? The things that most people do don't require even a 10th the functionality of Windows. Google search/IM/mail, for many people, this covers it.

Re:The future is Google

a GoogleOS thin-client is not far off. Why? The things that most people do don't require even a 10th the functionality of Windows

Actually, many people are slowly finding they need 10 times the functionality that the Windows variants provide. That's why other OS's exist and will continue to exist. Realize that functionality can be measured in many ways - freedom isn't free, for one thing - it requires work, whether in a democracy or an effort to have free (from control by others) software.

Google is lead by people smart enough to recognize that Microsoft views them as a threat, and so, by fiat, Microsoft is a threat to Google. A world in which Google did not have to worry about loss of search effort (and hence loss of eyeballs to the advertising revenue they capture) to Microsoft or to others is a world in which Google makes more money. A weaker Microsoft that would have to make decisions on concentrating its resources on its bread-and-butter Office (threatened by OpenOffice, for one), and on its OS, which is its starting point for its huge market capitalization, is a world in which Microsoft is not gaining revenue from search, or from IM, etc.

IMO, Google could do far worse than to figure out how to make Firefox even more useful and how to make Gaim even more useful, and how to make Sunbird a useful product, and how to make a free Exchange-like product that tied 'em all together, and acted as a chat server, and so on, and to give those things away, and encourage their use. Less Microsoft presence in those areas means a retrenched Microsoft not dipping into the search engine advertising revenue stream.

Re:The future is Google

Actually, many people are slowly finding they need 10 times the functionality that the Windows variants provide.

No. geeks may be "slowly finding" this, but the "average user" is not. The "average user" has and continues to have a very well defined profile of things that they do. Games, image management, email, IM. The "average user" has no clue about much of what is discussed at Slashdot, and even less interest.

Only if its unix based and open source.

Let them create GoogleOS. It would be a good idea in the long term once Linux is mature enough I think people would actually buy the OS.

Google has enough money to completely fund Linux development and do that.

Re:So why hasn't Slashbot reported on current_ yet

Simple - the channel really has nothing to do with Google.

As far as I can tell (this coming from Google itself [blogspot.com], mind you), all they provide are the search data and the name for the segments. Google doesn't seem to have anything else to do with the channel.

GoogleOS X

Anyone remember GoogleX [thejosher.com] which was online for some hours at the Google Labs website?

Quote from the site:
Roses are red. Violets are blue. OS X rocks. Homage to you.

I'm already seeing Google promoting Apple to bring OS X to non-Macintosh computers, which is even less work because of Apple's transition to x86.

Re:The future is Google

I don't know if they'll dominate desktop, but they're dominating the internet... Orkut, Gmail and Search. Do you need more?

Re:Something I don't understand..

This couild be an ad-based thing like MSN.

Re:Something I don't understand..

Yes.

Gmail has context sensative ads. Most messages have advertisements for related topics. For example, I became aware of dice.com through a gmail ad. They made a dime on that one, I'm sure.

Google News is a repository of information. Of course they make money on it. If nothing else, they learn their user's habits.

Picasa, in case you didn't know, has several venues for Google to make a profit. First, google gets a better understanding of how images are cataloged by their users. This makes services like images.google.com more efficient, and possibly even "smart". Second, Picasa is paired with a "Order Prints" function which shells out to several different photo printing services including Wal-Mart, Shutterfly, and Life Pics. This, I'm sure makes a small profit. Third, it integrates with Blogger and Tivo, which I'm sure there is an indirect revenue stream from these services as well.

An IM client could be huge for Google; I'm sure they could find ways to make a profit. Context sensative ads (similar to Trillian's Wikipedia lookup feature), regular advertisements (like AIM and MSN's advertising), and the ability to shell right out to their other revenue sources like google.com, gmail, and picasa.

Information is valuable these days...

Re:location based functionality

Possibly because it runs only on Windows? That's my reason, anyway.

Re:We can call it Goober...

Goofy Goober, woohoo! We're all Goofy Goobers!

Okay. That's it. Too much Spongebob Squarepants for me.

Re:FIRST FISH!

I can buy this story..I interviewed with Google recently and at least 3 interviewers (in a plethora of 18 and counting interviews) asked me the same question:

"if Google comes out with an instant messenger product what features should it have"

Re:The future is Google

This wont happen anytime soon...

And I tell you why... normal people dont care about the OS they use, if you put most of them in front of a KDE or GNOME desktop and DONT mention the word "Linux" theyll just pretend its just a funny looking Windows.

Most people dont really use the OS itself, they spend so many time inside their applications that the OS dont matter to them.

So, as long as Google provides those amazing applications, thell never have to worry about dominating the OS...

Ok, maybe thell have to worry about the Browser. After all nobody knows how Microsoft will "fix" Internet Explorer.