hints at Google IM program!

[MarineCorps]

Now the dust is finally settling after Google's latest launch, its desktop search tool, Web watchers are talking about the next big thing to emerge from the Google stable






Google watchers buzzing about the search darling's new desktop tool are already betting on its next product: instant chat.



Such speculation isn't new, but it's gained legs as some intriguing facts have come to light this week. First, although few people seem to realise it, Google already owns an instant-messaging (IM) client called Hello that it picked up this summer with its acquisition of photo-sharing service Picasa.



Meanwhile, code uncovered in the Google Desktop Search tool released Tuesday suggests that the company may have broader plans to integrate IM into its growing list of products.



Richard Smith, a well-known security consultant, said he examined the code in the desktop application and found included in the program files a new protocol: "google_im://". (A protocol allows desktop software to interact with the Web browser.) "This is a good sign there's an IM client," he said.



A Google representative said the protocol flagged by Smith does not hint at a pending Google IM product; rather, it is merely a component used to capture IM data from America Online Instant Messenger and make it searchable on the desktop.



Smith also unearthed some of the history behind the desktop search application, the most ambitious new product launch for Google since its $1.7 billion initial public offering earlier this year. For example, before it was named Google Desktop Search, the software was code-named Total Recall, according to a file name detected in the software by Smith. Google confirmed the handle and said the project had also previously taken the code name "Fluffy Bunny".



Right or wrong, the guesswork is a seemingly irresistible sport among technology buffs and investors, driving endless speculation about Google's next steps and perpetuating a Wonka-like mystique about the company. Google, founded in 1998, has also been rumoured in the last year to be working on a Web browser, a thin-client operating system, and a searchable digital archive of library and reference material, supposedly code-named Project Ocean.



To be sure, it's not a stretch to imagine Google's future. Just look at its past. In six years, the company has gone from a straightforward search engine to a Web portal extraordinaire, with an advertising network, comparison shopping service, email and Web publishing products.



Perhaps half the fun in the conjecture is the detective work involved in tracking a highly secretive company.



Smith ran a string utility search on the binary files in the desktop application, found the protocol "googlemail://" and next to it "google_im://." He speculated that the Google email protocol could eventually help the desktop application interact with the company's free Web-based search service, Gmail.



Web loggers at the Digital Life conference in New York were atwitter with the possibilities of a Google IM tool.



Google has incorporated Picasa's photo-sharing technology into its Blogger Web publishing service to help people publish photos to their blogs. But it has largely kept Picasa's IM technology under wraps.



"It's a good bet that as Google integrates Picasa better with the rest of its services, Hello will be its chat client, with full feature support for Gmail and Google Desktop. And if you are worried about security, Google claims that it's more secure than AOL Instant Messenger," said Nathan Weinberg, who runs the InsideGoogle blog.

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/0,39020330,39170559,00.htm

Now all Google needs to do is create a browser and an OS!

 

[Jason The King]

Go google! The search is the best out there, and the email (at least the BETA) is unbelievable.

I can't wait for the instant messaging...we all know its the next step!

 

[Volum]

Yes! It will probably be better then most things out there

 

[General Joey]

Google OS, Google IM, Google Search...
Smells like another M$.

 

[Dell19]

The thing that makes MSN messenger useful is that lots of people use it... Simply introducing google isn't necessarily going to change that regardless of the features...

Oh and the OS is kind of a large step to make...

 

[Jeratain]

Google OS, Google IM, Google Search...
Smells like another M$.

Yeah! Damn corporations for taking advantage of the free market system! We should all become communists and make laws that no one company can make a profit! Micro$oft is evil for forcing us all to use their software when we don't have any other choices! Google is trying to do the same thing by forcing me to use their search engine and search companion and popup blocker for free when I don't have any other choices.

I welcome the effort by Google. They have already registered the domain gbrowser.com and are working on a browser that will probably use the Gecko engine or something on those lines. An OS is unlikely since the market is so saturated with options and the R&D costs to develop a new OS would ultimately not be worth the risk; however that wouldn't stop them from working on an updated Linux kernel or distro if they seriosuly do delve into it.

 

[MarineCorps]

When he said we have another M$, I think he was more refering to the fact that they might have a smiliar product line. Not that google was evil.

BTW you can't deny that M$ is evil Jeratain Not when you consider how they got rid of almost any chance of sharing XP between familiy members.

BTW amusing link http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;314458

 

[Plexus]

Bah... I've installed this copy of XP on three other computers!

 

[Jeratain]

BTW you can't deny that M$ is evil Jeratain Not when you consider how they got rid of almost any chance of sharing XP between familiy members.

I can easily deny it, and I do. Microsoft is a corporation that provides software to those that wish to use it. Granted, some of their business practices and bundling techniques may have stumped competition in the past (though it was good business tactics from a tactical viewpoint), that doesn't mean that they don't provide good software. You don't like the fact that you can't use one key to install XP on more than one computer? Too bad. Install Windows 2000 instead. Install Linux instead. Install one of the many other operating systems available to you - many of them free. You have options. No one is forcing you to use Microsoft's software. No one is forcing you to buy it. I grow tired of the blatant ignorant comments against Microsoft.

And you know what? The whole novelty of typing out "M$" or "Micro$oft" has worn off. The goal of every company is to make a profit (with the exception of non-profit organizations). IBM does it. Apple does it. Yahoo! does it. Oracle and Peoplesoft do it. Macromedia definitely does it. And of course, Google is doing it.

You have options for the following:
OS
Email/Newsgroup Access
Web Browser
ISP
Multimedia Players
Office Software
Database Software
Programming Languages
(more)

If you use something created by Microsoft for one of the above, then you have no one to blame but yourself. If they just happen to do it better than other companies, too bad. If you ask me, they are an excellent company doing exactly what they need to be doing: Making a profit so that their shareholders can reap the benefits, all the while providing consumers with useful products.

Bill Gates creates a company that creates software to make people's lives easier and then he makes huge profits from it. What do people think? He's evil. While being one of the richest people in the world, he also donates the most money. He helps provide for charities as well as research for such things as AIDS and cancer. No, that doesn't make him a God, but it doesn't make him socially irresponsible either.

In simpler terms: Stop playa hatin.

 

[MarineCorps]

Bah... I've installed this copy of XP on three other computers!

I'd be rather intrested to know how you did that....


@Jeratain: Eh, suit your self. I'm not gonna change my mind.

 

[MarineCorps]

Wait how can a company that has been convicted of anttrust laws be good?

 

[WildFire]

I can easily deny it, and I do. Microsoft is a corporation that provides software to those that wish to use it. Granted, some of their business practices and bundling techniques may have stumped competition in the past (though it was good business tactics from a tactical viewpoint), that doesn't mean that they don't provide good software. You don't like the fact that you can't use one key to install XP on more than one computer? Too bad. Install Windows 2000 instead. Install Linux instead. Install one of the many other operating systems available to you - many of them free. You have options. No one is forcing you to use Microsoft's software. No one is forcing you to buy it. I grow tired of the blatant ignorant comments against Microsoft.

And you know what? The whole novelty of typing out "M$" or "Micro$oft" has worn off. The goal of every company is to make a profit (with the exception of non-profit organizations). IBM does it. Apple does it. Yahoo! does it. Oracle and Peoplesoft do it. Macromedia definitely does it. And of course, Google is doing it.

You have options for the following:
OS
Email/Newsgroup Access
Web Browser
ISP
Multimedia Players
Office Software
Database Software
Programming Languages
(more)

If you use something created by Microsoft for one of the above, then you have no one to blame but yourself. If they just happen to do it better than other companies, too bad. If you ask me, they are an excellent company doing exactly what they need to be doing: Making a profit so that their shareholders can reap the benefits, all the while providing consumers with useful products.

Bill Gates creates a company that creates software to make people's lives easier and then he makes huge profits from it. What do people think? He's evil. While being one of the richest people in the world, he also donates the most money. He helps provide for charities as well as research for such things as AIDS and cancer. No, that doesn't make him a God, but it doesn't make him socially irresponsible either.

In simpler terms: Stop playa hatin.

Best post I've seen in awhile!

 

[viper275]

That Google IM sounds pretty cool. What if they integrated it into the toolbar so that it would be really easy to browse the internet and chat at the same time. Perhaps I'm expecting too much, but it sounds good to me.