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Although Google may be a power in the future -- I'm not sure it was because of Google Talk that prompted the Yahoo/MSN partnership. Given AIM's overwhelming popularity (particularly with younger people) in the US as well as ICQ's popularity in other area's of the world, they seem to be the clear targets.
Google Talk's promise will hopefully be realized in the future -- particularly if they can offer the upper tier features in an open source, yet interoperable fashion, like Voice. Right now, I would have to agree that in it's current format, Google is the "stone-age of instant messaging", as one reviewer put it.
My biggest gripe with Google Talk is that it's open-source ... in a kind of closed-source way. I can almost overlook the having to have a Gmail account requirement, even though it smells a lot like MSN, but to not even be able to add my other Jabber buddies to it seems to be just as proprietary and locked-in as any other messengers. When I can move my other Jabber contacts to Google Talk without making them get Gmail accounts to do so -- then we'll have a truly open-source model of a messenger.
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