Oct 25, 2007 05:12 PM
2404 Views
This tribute to gTalk is overdue, and may I take a moment to warn my readers that I am going to rave about it, so those who dislike it, if you do decide to read on, I hope I can convince you to jettison all your dislikes and love it.:)
What makes gTalk so special is its absolute simplicity yet utmost comprehensiveness. Which essentially means you can chat and talk to say the least, and yet have fun stuff like avtaar display, skins as well as display your mood via a status line or the music you're currently listening to! Yes, it integrates successfuly with all major players like winamp and media player! Its interface is very self explanatory and devoid of unnecessary clutter which I honestly cannot say about other messengers. Its freakishly simple to add people, change settings, customize your friendlist and view.
One good thing about google in general is the way all its services behave holistically. This begins with single sign on and goes right upto populating your gtalk list with your orkut friends; with blogger, google reader and a host of other useful stuff in between. This makes it a pleasure to use gtalk.
Another very cool feature is the skins. In Settings->Appearance you can choose from a gamut of different themes. Additionally, some are even available for download. Its very easy to even make your own theme. If you are conversant with html and a modest amount of css, you can have your own theme ready in an hour! [Its good entertainment when you are bored @ work;-) ] All you do is paste the theme in C:\Documents and Settings\USER\Local Settings\Application Data\Google\Google Talk\themes\system\chat
[where 'C' really represents the drive where Windows resides and USER is your windows login.]
A result of one of my spells of boredom is in the picture I have attached with this review:)
Chat Bots are another cool thing - you have bots for almost anything -stocks and shares, sports etc.
Gtalk's severe internet, rather Web 2.0 presence is marked by the fact that every major Web 2.0 service like twitter or any blogging software has a plugin of some kind that links with gTalk, either to present an alert of an event or display a status message .
If you don't want the trouble of downloading the client, there is a really cool web based option -the google talk gadget which you can launch in your browser, use as a firefox sidebar plus get packaged within google desktop!
So there's no excuse not to use it really:)
I personally feel very connected when gtalk just sits there quietly in my system tray, and I almost feel insecure when i'm not signed in!
