Comments for GMail Adds AIM Login to Chat

GMail Adds AIM Login to Chat

2007-12-04T20:30:01Z

Google announced this afternoon that its users can now login to their AIM accounts and chat with both Google Talk and AIM buddies at the same time. Chat transcripts, contact list sorting by frequency of contact and other GMail chat features will be included seamlessly. I don't see this feature yet myself, but I only saw the new colored labels for GMail an hour ago so perhaps I'm among the last to get everything.

I don't know that this can be called interoperability, but it's a nice touch. No corresponding announcement about logging into Google Talk through AIM has been made yet by the AIM team - who apparently haven't been up to much since announcing their quiet support for OpenID more than a year ago. I tease, but come on guys, can we get some fireworks occasionally?

Comment from fak3r on 2007-12-05

2007-12-05T14:30:28Z

It's an interesting move by Google, who wants to appear as open to other options for their customers as possible, while extending the branch to long time AIMers who won't/can't give up their precious /nick. With Pidgin in Linux I login to multiple accounts automatically, so I'm not sure how I'll use this, but again, an interesting move - you never know what Google will do next (witness the IMAP option that finally came down the pipe). Now if they'd update their native client they may have a real alternative for users.

Comment from Diana Moneymaker on 2007-12-05

2007-12-05T17:05:40Z

This is an interesting move by Google. I'm sure this is a tactic to get the massive AIM userbase to switch over to Google Talk.

-Diana Moneymaker