GoogleTalk

Google Talk is an instant messaging service. It provides both text and voice communication. The instant messaging service is colloquially known as "gchat" to its users.

Using Text chat You can:

• Write instant messages: share quick thoughts in real time
• Update your status: see if friends are around and what they are up to
• Transfer files: instantly send and receive files, pictures, and more.

Using Voice chat You can:

• Communicate in free long distance: make PC-to-PC calls to people anywhere in the world
• Make audio conferencing: talk to multiple people at once
• Have Gmail integration: chat with your friends on Gmail

Here is an interesting link, which can help You to know how to use Google Talk: http://www.google.com/talk/start.html
And here are news about Google Talk: http://www.google.com/talk/whatsnew.html

Next time I'll tell You about Google Chat

Some more from history of popular chats

ICQ is an instant messaging application which was developed by the Israeli company Mirabilis in 1996. ICQ was a huge success and AOL acquired the company in 1998. ICQ was extremely popular during the end of the ‘90s and is still used today.

Yahoo! Messenger is a well known instant messaging application which was launched in 1998 using the name Yahoo! Pager.

Windows Live Messenger is Microsofts instant messaging application launched in 1999. It was known as MSN Messenger before recently changing its name.

Skype was launched in 2003 with lots of buzz surrounding it. It quickly became one of the most popular applications to make voice calls over Internet. The software also has connections to landlines and mobile phones.

Google Wave a platform and communications protocol announced by Google in 2009. It is designed to merge the functionality of email, instant messaging, wiki and social networking.
P.S. This project was closed.

2nd period in history

In previous post I have told about the time period from 1960 to 1990, i.e. the era before the birth of the World Wide Web that we live in today. Now it’s time to continue my narration about chatting, from 1990 until 2009.

So here some chats are, some of the most popular computer messaging applications and services during 1990-2009, including some less known ones, that helped drive innovation and development forward.

Back to the start...

Every intelligent person uses chatting for communicating with friends, colleagues, relatives and even unknown people. These days it’s hard to imagine a life without computer chatting and other applications that let us communicate cheaply and over great distances. But does anyone know, how this all began?

I think it’ll be interesting for You, my dear reader, to know: Chat rooms became popular with the dawn of the Internet, but actually were around about 20 years before the World Wide Web even came into existence.