Gmail with AIM support is not a new feature
Google Blog is covering Gmail’s latest new feature: AIM support. Has anyone else noticed that this isn’t new at all? I’ve been using Gmail (or more specifically, GTalk) for ICQ and MSN since January 2006. I don’t have any need for AIM, but that doesn’t mean I couldn’t add that too.
I’ve already got Gmail storing my MSN logs, my ICQ logs, and everything else. Pretty much all Google have accomplished here is to a) sign a deal with AOL to create an official Jabber transport for AIM, and b) change the Gmail interface slightly.
I’m not all negative though! With Google comes stability. I’ve had to switch Jabber transports quite a few times for MSN, since I’ve had trouble finding stable servers. I’d really appreciate if Google could create a stable transport for MSN and offer that out in the same way.
Google? Sign a deal with MSN? Won’t the planets have to align and time stop or something for that to happen?
hey, just to let you know … not everyone is knowledgable of jabber transports and whatnot. I’ve heard the term, but I’m not quite savvy with all that.
Perhaps I can suggest to you (for stability) pidgin? Though, of all the messenger variations I use (aim/msn/yim/gtalk) msn has given me the most headache, no matter the client. real msn, meebo, trillian, or pidgin.
it seems sometimes, it just doesn’t want to connect.
but anyway, for the majority of the time, pidgin will do the job for you, without needing to set anything up advanced.
also, I am neither robot nor human; I am cyborg. um, kidding.
Hi Chris, I did happily use Trillian for a long time, then Gaim, then Pidgin. What Google Talk offers me over these options is that the Google servers log everything in my conversations, regardless of the protocol I’m using.
Since writing this post, I have read that Google have not created an AIM transport. Instead, they’ve just used the AIM APIs to let GMail talk to AIM. So in fact, using transports gives you better functionality.