February 6, 2006 9:00 PM PST

Google merges Gmail with chat

By Elinor Mills
Staff Writer, CNET News

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Related Stories: AOL takes AIM and shoots for new features
November 22, 2005; Yahoo IM users get more than they bargained for
September 1, 2005; Google unveils instant-messaging entry
August 23, 2005

Google on Monday was set to launch Gmail Chat, which will let users send instant messages with one click from their e-mail account, see when contacts are online and save the chat history like an e-mail message.

Video: Google's new version of Gmail
CNET News.com reporter Elinor Mills explains how to use some of its new features.

The application's Quick Contacts list is synchronized with a user's Google Talk friends list and automatically displays the people a user communicates with most frequently and shows their online status. Clicking on a contact listed as being online opens a chat window in the browsers.

The application lets users save their chat history for easy searching later and click an "off the record" option so that no conversation with that person going forward is saved by either party until they choose to go back on the record.

Gmail Chat is available on Internet Explorer 6.0 and higher and Firefox 1.0 and higher and in the U.S. English interface only.

While the chat functions of Google Talk are integrated into Gmail, users must download the Google Talk client application to make voice calls.

In the United States, Gmail is the fourth most popular Web-based e-mail program, and Google Talk is ranked seventh among instant messaging programs, according to Nielsen/NetRatings.

Yahoo Mail indicates to users when their Yahoo Messenger contacts are online and allows them to launch a dialog with them instantly, as well as letting them make voice calls. It also allows users to check their voice mail and launch voice calling from Yahoo Mail. America Online's AIM Triton offers integrated e-mail, instant messaging, SMS text messaging and voice and video chat.

See more CNET content tagged:
Gmail, Google Talk, Yahoo! Mail, contact, IM

Add a Comment (Log in or register) 25 comments (Showing first 20 comments)

WHATS THE BIGGG DEAL?
by redrasys123 February 6, 2006 11:05 PM PST: Come on guys, enough is enough. There is no need to blow the trumpet every time Google adds a feature - people can see online status of buddies in the inbox - whoa, what an achievement!!

if you cry wolf, people will ignore it when Google really does something really cool.; Reply to this comment View all 5 replies
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Interesting...
by PCCRomeo February 7, 2006 1:17 PM PST: "In the United States, Gmail is the fourth most popular Web-based e-mail program, and Google Talk is ranked seventh among instant messaging programs, according to Nielsen/NetRatings."

Not bad at all considering they're both still in beta and were introduced when the email and im markets seemed full. Congrats Google.; Reply to this comment View reply
Processing

Agreed
by rkminc February 8, 2006 9:08 AM PST: These feature releases are barely putting Google/Gmail at parity with competitors. Yahoo Mail has tons more features than Gmail has, and that's why it has the lead. I think the media became accustomed to treating Google as an underdog and still cheers every time they do something that gets them a step closer to parity.; Reply to this comment View reply
Processing

off the record? hmm.....
by naterandrews June 26, 2006 10:48 PM PDT: sounds like just another feature tha t can help people chat easier. go google; Reply to this comment

MSN Explorer, et. al.
by KTLA_knew April 25, 2008 12:00 AM PDT: So, Google just caught up to MSN Explorer (not tied to MSN service) of 5 years ago, as well as dozens of other applications that do this? No, I'm not saying MSN Explorer was first or best, there were many before MS...; Reply to this comment

Other side of the coin
by Michael Grogan April 25, 2008 12:00 AM PDT: With all of the interconnectivity between their services does anyone else se the potential for Google to become the next huge virus pipeline to the world's computers?; Reply to this comment

FastFW.com is cool
by pilozoe April 25, 2008 12:01 AM PDT: check it out, it's a total new way to manage and send unlimited message size emails; Reply to this comment

Message has been deleted.
by Dean_Ansari April 25, 2008 12:01 AM PDT: Reply to this comment View reply
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See all 25 Comments >>

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