back to article Google adds audio, video tools to Gmail

Google has added new video and audio conversion tools to its free email service – Gmail – in an effort to eat into some of Microsoft and Yahoo!’s market share. Users with a webcam who want to see and hear the people they’re emailing and chatting with online via Gmail, which is known as Googlemail in the UK, can now do so – …

COMMENTS

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  1. Matt Thornton
    Thumb Down

    Use?

    Bearing in mind that Gmail is essentially a webmail service, that you are likely to check from a web cafe or work 'puter which is probably locked down, how useful is this if you have to install something?

    I find it almost as pointless as Microsoft's message on MSN Webmessenger that says "Install Windows Live! Messenger now!" - don't they realise that if I could do that then I would and I have to use webmessnger out of necessity, not out of choice!?

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Push email

    I'd be impressed if Google could just implement push email from gmail - like Yahoo!, etc...

  3. Miladin Miladinoski
    Linux

    GNU/Linux support?

    Umm... Google.... How could you have forgotten the OS to the gods - the so-called Linux? Open this page http://mail.google.com/videochat with a GNU/Linux based browser and see what you get:

    "Gmail voice and video chat is not yet available for Linux."

    Oooh, not YET... Well I can wait :)

  4. paul
    Thumb Down

    No Linux Support

    No interest from me.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Joke

    No Linux Support ...

    don't worry a strongly worded letter from the OSS will be writeen soon. oh sorry forgot, it's not the BBC...

    Move along..

  6. Nicholas Irving
    Stop

    Proxy support

    I hate the web installers that detect you have a proxy, but then don't prompt you to enter your credentials. If they cannot get this to work, then I guess getting the actual app to work behind a firewall will be an epic fail too,

  7. James Henstridge

    google talk

    It sounds like this is just doing voice/video over Jabber/XMPP (the IM protocol Google Talk uses), so it sounds like it'd be possible for the feature to work beyond GMail. It might even allow voice chat with existing jingle enabled Jabber clients already.

    So support for other platforms should be possible, although maybe not easily from within GMail.

  8. Alain
    Unhappy

    How about being consistent, Google?

    Just when I was starting to really like their Google Talk app... they implement video chat *outside* of it (or am I confused here?)

    Give me video chat in Google Talk and I'll ditch Skype for good!

    And of course, count my vote for Linux support too.

  9. NB
    Linux

    yeah but...

    Does it run GNU/Linux?

  10. Daniel Bennett
    Coat

    What if I type 'Reboot'

    Will it reboot my PC? :o

    Mines the one with the Nokia N95 8GB with Fring for Skype and MSN Messenger installed...

  11. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I'm probably missing the point

    Sorry, but what's the point of linking an audio/video app to an email/chat? Let me rephrase that, what's the point of emailing/chatting when you are on an audio/video-link with the same guy?

    It's like getting a free Ferrari when you buy a Ford Fiesta.

    And anyway what's revolutionary about this? I've been able to do this for years with NetMeeting, Skype etc.

  12. Maryland, USA

    Alain is correct: Google needs to add video to the Google Talk client!

    ...and the Google Talk widget. I work in a U.S. government office, where Gmail's chat feature is disabled. Google Talk can be installed (indirectly; wink, wink!) but it can't support video.

    I've read the two white papers from the company that developed the video technology. It's truly amazing stuff, going beyond Apple iChat's H.264 by intelligently dropping down in quality (S/N ratio), frame rate, and image dimensions when bandwidth is scarce, so as to prevent the image from freezing up.

    By remaining silent on plans to add video to Google Talk, Google may be signaling an agressive move to "inspire" users of competing email systems into Gmail and, thereby, into the Google ecosystem.

    By the way, when you use video in gmail chat, you can't use it to connect to your AIM buddies. Nor can you hold a group video call: It's like Skype: You can have a 3-way call or video, but not both.

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