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gTalk To Get Video Boost?

Posted by CmdrTaco on Sun Apr 22, 2007 11:36 AM
from the still-no-mac-audio-blah dept.
Communications Google
lotusleaf writes "According to an article at PCWorld, "Google Inc. has bought video conferencing software from Marratech AB", "The client software runs on Windows 2000 or XP, Mac OS X 10.4, or versions of Linux". Could this provide a cross-platform video conferencing boost to gTalk?"
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  • Skype (Score:3, Insightful)

    by bcmm (768152) on Sunday April 22 2007, @11:40AM (#18832477)
    Hopefully this will let Skype start quietly dieing the way it should have when it started providing video support for Windows clients only...

    • Re:Skype (Score:5, Interesting)

      by imamac (1083405) on Sunday April 22 2007, @11:44AM (#18832513)
      (http://greensmusic.net/)
      Agreed. There is a serious lack of crossplatform video conferenceing software that actually works well on all platforms. One can only hope Google is up to the challenge. Though if any company can do it, it's probably them...
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:Skype by miscz (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @12:06PM
        • Re:Skype by xtracto (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @12:13PM
          • Re:Skype by beckerist (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @12:45PM
            • Re:Skype by It'sYerMam (Score:3) Sunday April 22 2007, @02:18PM
              • Re:Skype by maxume (Score:1) Sunday April 22 2007, @03:57PM
              • Re:Skype by beckerist (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @05:22PM
              • Re:Skype by It'sYerMam (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @06:37PM
              • Re:Skype by miscz (Score:2) Tuesday April 24 2007, @12:37PM

      • Re:Skype (Score:5, Insightful)

        by laffer1 (701823) <[moc.semaghsiloof] [ta] [ekul]> on Sunday April 22 2007, @12:14PM (#18832685)
        (http://www.justjournal.com/)
        I doubt google will support all platforms. At best, maybe windows, mac os and linux. People forget about PDAs, BSDs, Solaris, ecomstation, cell phones, game consoles, etc. There are a lot of platforms in this world.

        Windows, Mac OS and Linux are not the only platforms. Its really funny to hear people complain about software support on their platform. Windows users complain if it does work on every version of windows, or at least the one they like. Mac users complain about windows only software but tout their platform as superior if they happen to get a Mac only product. Linux users try to say Windows and Linux or Windows, Mac, Linux without remembering they are an open source platform. I remember when we were all in this together. Now that linux has commercial support from IBM and other firms its now OK to ignore every other open source OS on the planet. From my perspective, the only thing Linux is missing is games. You already have the video drivers to play them.

        If google were smart, they'd take the approach Netscape did years ago and port to everything possible. Remember Netscape shipped for linux, solaris, irix, hp-ux, windows, mac os, and a slew of other platforms. There was even an OS/2 version. I can't think of a single company that is not open source that ships on that many platforms today.
        [ Parent ]
      • sightspeed by DietFluffy (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @12:34PM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.

    • Re:Skype (Score:5, Informative)

      by abigor (540274) on Sunday April 22 2007, @12:06PM (#18832635)
      Skype video works great in OS X also. I use it all the time.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:Skype by bcmm (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @03:51PM
      • Re:Stop whining by mustafap (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @02:25PM
      • Re:Stop whining by larry bagina (Score:1) Sunday April 22 2007, @04:57PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.

    • Re:Skype (Score:5, Informative)

      by lordholm (649770) on Sunday April 22 2007, @12:10PM (#18832669)
      (http://lordholm.blogspot.com/)
      I just had a video conference with my mother over Skype. She use Windows and I am using a Mac. That is, your post is wrong in that it is only for windows.

      However, the Mac implementation is rather buggy and one have to restart Skype occasionally when the video stops working, but it is working more or less. Despite this, it is actually the only realistic alternative to cross platform video conferencing at the moment.
      [ Parent ]
      • OpenWengo by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Sunday April 22 2007, @12:53PM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
      • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
    • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.

  • Google must be doing something right (Score:5, Insightful)

    by porkThreeWays (895269) on Sunday April 22 2007, @11:47AM (#18832535)
    I was thinking the other day... in the past 2 years google has bought A LOT of companies, technologies, and created new ones. I thought there's no way they could be a profitable company right now. Well I checked google's Q1 profits and they are actually up 68% to 1 billion a quarter. I know there will be a lot of posts that google is becoming a one hit wonder. Perhaps... but I think if they've got their financials in such good order they've really separated themselves from the dot bomb's of the 2000's. Just a thought...

  • SIP/H.264 (Score:5, Insightful)

    by good soldier svejk (571730) on Sunday April 22 2007, @11:49AM (#18832555)
    A cursory reading of the product FAQ reveals it is SIP based and supports H.264. Hopefully means that Mac users will be able to use iChat as a gTalk client, since it uses the same protocols and codec. Better yet, this could mean real standardization.

    • Re:SIP/H.264 (Score:5, Insightful)

      by 222 (551054) <stormseeker AT gmail DOT com> on Sunday April 22 2007, @12:19PM (#18832719)
      (http://bestpractic.es/)
      Agreed. This is something often overlooked when there is a discussion about Google, but its willingness to develop on open standards for multiple platforms should serve as a model for the tech industry.

      While a number of scenarios have dinged their "Do no evil" approach, I'll take Google over any day.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:SIP/H.264 by l0cust (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @01:57PM
        • Re:SIP/H.264 by 222 (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @02:23PM
          • Re:SIP/H.264 by 222 (Score:3) Sunday April 22 2007, @02:26PM
            • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Ummm.... by scooter.higher (Score:3) Sunday April 22 2007, @01:03PM
      • Re:Ummm.... by good soldier svejk (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @04:51PM
        • Re:Ummm.... by good soldier svejk (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @04:55PM
      • Re:Ummm.... by tuxic (Score:1) Monday April 23 2007, @04:23AM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.

  • Congrats Marratech (Score:5, Interesting)

    by gnurfed (1051140) on Sunday April 22 2007, @12:17PM (#18832701)
    As I attended Luleå university of Technology as a CS student when the technology was developed, I got to use the software from its infancy. Before I graduated they started recording lectures with the system (with video and slides), so you could either follow it live from home (and of course ask questions to the lecturer) or review it later. Cool shit which is probably a lot cooler today. The Marratech crew were all true nerds (meant as a compliment, of course) and they really deserved this success. Hmmm.. They're probably all slashdotters and reading this, so GRATTIS! (congrats)

  • But it costs money! (Score:1)

    by solar_blitz (1088029) on Sunday April 22 2007, @12:21PM (#18832735)
    It sounds like an excellent alternative to Skype since their video chat software is still in beta. Marratech's profits are made from its software, though, so I wonder how the company could earn money if Google made the software available free on gTalk? I'm not a businessman nor am I too familiar with how Google deals with companies that it's purchased, so if the question's been answered pay no heed.

    It would be interesting to know if Google employees could transfer to Sweden, though. :D

  • Google Should've Bought Camfrog (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Khyber (864651) <khyberkitsune@gmail.com> on Sunday April 22 2007, @12:24PM (#18832755)
    (Last Journal: Wednesday October 31, @11:31AM)
    Then Google would have a very efficient and very powerful voice/video application. And tehe only thing missing is Linux support for the cilent - there's Win/OSX/Linux versions of the room server software, one just needs to add in a Linux client and that would be that.

  • So soon? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Duncan3 (10537) on Sunday April 22 2007, @01:29PM (#18833175)
    (http://www.mithral.com/~beberg/)
    I wasn't aware there were still IM clients that didn't have video anymore. Nice to see gTalk catching up to ~2003 I suppose. Odd that with an army of PhD's, Google seems to have to buy all their tech elsewhere and is still years behind.

    Doesn't anyone else think this is a little strange?
    • Re:So soon? by Scutter (Score:2) Sunday April 22 2007, @01:33PM
    • Re:So soon? by geekinaseat (Score:1) Sunday April 22 2007, @02:42PM
    • Re:So soon? by ThePengwin (Score:1) Monday April 23 2007, @12:36AM
    • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.

  • Great... (Score:2)

    by bennomatic (691188) on Sunday April 22 2007, @01:34PM (#18833215)
    (http://www.tuneforge.com/)
    Now they're going to offer a feature where they can record, transcribe and make searchable all of your video chats... No privacy issues here...

  • LibJingle (Score:2, Interesting)

    by jbond23 (525878) on Sunday April 22 2007, @01:36PM (#18833219)
    (http://www.voidstar.com/)
    It's now 18 months since the LibJingle announcement. And yet there's still no sign of anyone except Google using it. GTalk still looks like an Alpha. The whole IM market is still hopelessly fractured with very little chat interop between IM systems and virtually no interop for voice and video. I really hoped that GTalk and LibJingle would lead to a link up between Google, Apple, AIM, Gaim, Jabber and all the 3rd party clients. There was even a press release where Google and Skype were talking about gateways and interop. Guess I was too optimistic. What are they all doing?
    • Re:LibJingle by LibrePensador (Score:3) Sunday April 22 2007, @02:42PM
    • Re:LibJingle by Constantine XVI (Score:3) Sunday April 22 2007, @07:38PM

  • Multiplatform support (Score:1)

    by jirah (994042) on Sunday April 22 2007, @01:47PM (#18833291)
    (http://jirah.org/)
    On these days gTalk only support VOIP on Windows systems, and the projects that support the VOIP protocol of Google for Linux for example, stay on develop and not represent a really option. What's the idea with make support for video and voice for only one (and propietary) platform? I think google is making evil on this side of the business.

  • RTFA : This is for internal Google use! (Score:2, Informative)

    by cyberianpan (975767) on Sunday April 22 2007, @02:16PM (#18833485)

    TFA [pcworld.com] reports For now, Google plans to use the software internally, as a tool for its employees, the spokesman said, declining to speculate whether Google might later try to market the technology or integrate it into one of its commercial products. Should Google decide to market or integrate the technology into its products, the move would be seen as another in a string of recent steps taking Google into the sphere of collaborative work tools.
    They're only then saying maybe for regular users!

  • file transfer (Score:1, Offtopic)

    by hey (83763) on Sunday April 22 2007, @02:34PM (#18833619)
    (Last Journal: Thursday December 08 2005, @04:33PM)
    I'd prefer if the Jabber clients could get file transfer working first.
    (For users on all side of filewalls.)
    Maybe Google can kickstart this by using one way of doing it.

  • Misleading Summary (Score:4, Insightful)

    by mpapet (761907) on Sunday April 22 2007, @03:52PM (#18834225)
    (http://www.friendwich.com/ | Last Journal: Thursday November 09 2006, @12:05PM)
    The entire summary is filled with misconceptions.

    1. SIP client protocol has been implemented for every desktop. Windows/Mac/Gnome-ekiga/kde-twinkle and kphone.
    2. Multiple SIP servers are open, and Free AND integrate with Google's IM platform. (openser being generally excellent, there are a number of others)
    3. Conference bridges are open and Free and work nicely through most clients.
    4. Nortel-style phone systems are still absurdly priced.

    The SIP protocol should revolutionize communication. The thing holding everyone back in the U.S. is the telco patent portfolio. The message waiting indicator has been litigated, the claims AT&T successfully made against Vonage are ridiculous.

    I predict Google will be in court with AT&T over VOIP-related patents in very short order.
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Instead of this video chat support, why not implement group voice chatting? I think that speaking to more than one other person at the same time via Gtalk is a lot more useful than speaking to one person and being able to see them. Sure, I could just use Vent or XFire, but I think that many people wouldn't have to use them if GTalk had the group voice feature.

  • Re:gTalk support in gaim (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2007, @11:47AM (#18832537)
    new name is Pidgin
    [ Parent ]
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.

  • Re:gTalk support in gaim (Score:3, Informative)

    by peragrin (659227) on Sunday April 22 2007, @11:47AM (#18832539)
    gtalk works fine under adium, which is based on libpurple, or whatever it is being called now. No video is another story. i don't see why it is so hard for video to be done. As even google said when gtalk was first sent out that video would be added.
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:gTalk support in gaim (Score:2, Informative)

    by nexxu (1090763) on Sunday April 22 2007, @11:47AM (#18832541)
    (Last Journal: Thursday April 19 2007, @08:17PM)
    gTalk works in gaim [pidgin] (jabber is the protocol) but unfortunately supports only text :)
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:gTalk support in gaim (Score:1)

    by kraemate (1065878) on Sunday April 22 2007, @11:48AM (#18832547)
    (http://hackerkultur.blogspot.com/)
    Yes, its about time Google treated us Linux users fairly.
    [ Parent ]

  • Mod Parent Up! (Score:2)

    by binaryspiral (784263) on Sunday April 22 2007, @12:13PM (#18832681)
    Nuff said... Gaim - get your voice on!
    [ Parent ]

  • Re:gTalk support in gaim (Score:1)

    by bheekling (976077) <nirbheek,chauhan&gmail,com> on Sunday April 22 2007, @01:51PM (#18833319)
    There was a project once upon a time called as gaim-vv [sourceforge.net], after some time however, it got merged with the main Gaim project.
    There was recently a discussion [sourceforge.net]on the gaim-devel ML (before it was called pidgin) about the status of the project. It seems its basically stalled because work on it is not as easy as people imagine it to be and that major work on it will begin after the 2.0.0 release [sourceforge.net] of Pidgin.
    There was also talk of having it as a GSoc project, but turns out it was too complicated for it.

    All in all,
    1. Work will begin after Pidgin 2.0.0 is released
    2. It will probably use gstreamer [gstreamer.net] or farsight [freedesktop.org]
    3. Pidgin will eventually have both video and voice support but it will take a lot of time
    [ Parent ]
  • Gaim/Pidgin does indeed support Jabber (and GTalk is just another jabber server). All they need to do is get libjingle implemented (which Psi has in a dev branch), and voice and video will come along with it
    [ Parent ]
  • 4 replies beneath your current threshold.

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