Elliott C. Back: In Aere Aedificare

Everyone’s talking about Google talk, but I don’t really know why. It’s just another Jabber-using IM client that hooks into GMAIL and ties more users to the Google platform. The plan? A migration from to Google IM to GMAIL, or just yet another way to compete in a market you’ve never entered and don’t plan to release a strong product for. Probably, they’ll end up wowing a few users, converting a few others, and increasing their stock price, which is actually down $.07 as I write this.

The screenshots:

The main Google talk window. You have to first “invite” your gmail friends to be on your buddy list, and so far none of mine have responded.

It also, and quite annoyingly, in my opinion, notifies the user of new email which takes you to this stripped-down GMAIL interface.

The actual notification is done with an MSN-style widget. Way to rip off Microsoft, you innovators at Google!

The hidden scoop:

But what’s inside Google talk? Where did it get it’s VOIP solution? The answer is Global IP Sound, which you can find on the help-about page. How does it certify it’s servers? It uses an Equifax Secure Global eBusiness CA-10 certificate. Where did it get its implementation of the STL for .NET? From Dinkumware, Ltd., according to this copyright notice: Copyright (c) 1992-2001 by P.J. Plauger, licensed by Dinkumware, Ltd. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Did you know that Google Talk will automatically update itself from the information found in google-talk-versioncheck.txt? They use a 387-hex-byte key for verification, but checksums can always be faked. Google talk also includes a reference to this registry key: 226b64e8-dc75-4eea-a6c8-abcb496320f2, which contains version information about the product in the windows registry.

There’s also a list of IP addresses, probably the Google talk servers:

64.233.167.194
64.233.167.193
64.233.167.192
64.233.167.126
216.239.37.194
216.239.37.193
216.239.37.192
216.239.37.126

From the strings in the binary, we find the following mysterious path Software\Google\Cricket\Accounts. However, from other strings, we can deduce a lot about the internal build environment at Google. For example, from error codes like vector<bool> too long we know that they’re using C++ and the standard template library, but from Microsoft Visual C++ Runtime Library we see that they’re not using GCC. From encoded paths such as c:\cricket_builds\64\sources\googleclient\experimental\phone\app\statusmenu.h we can learn that some framework called “cricket” is used for their internal build development. A complete listing of source file names included in the binary is:

.\aboutnotification.cpp
.\asynchttprequest.cpp
.\asynchttptask.cpp
.\autodetectproxy.cpp
.\autoupdater.cpp
.\bottomtile.cpp
.\callnotification.cpp
.\chatlinkbar.cpp
../client\message.h
.\chatlog.cpp
.\chatnotification.cpp
.\chatview.cpp
.\contacttile.cpp
c:\cricket_builds\64\sources\googleclient\experimental\phone\app\statusmenu.h
.\contactview3.cpp
.\dialogs.cpp
.\drawutility.cpp
../../cricket/xmpp/xmpplib\buzz/saslcookiemechanism.h
../../cricket/xmpp/xmpplib\buzz/saslplainmechanism.h
.\gaiaauth.cpp
.\gaialauncher.cpp
.\mailnotification.cpp
.\phonewindow.cpp
.\pointerwindow.cpp
.\socketwindow.cpp
.\statusview2.cpp
.\toptile.cpp
.\tray.cpp
.\wsaasyncsocket.cpp

Other Takes:

Matt gives it a grudging nod, while Mark Evans thinks it’ll do, but just barely. Tom Keeting found an Easter egg. Liew loves it…

4 Responses to 'What’s so great about Google Talk?'

1. Evan said:

   on August 24th, 2005 at 2:59 pm

   I agree, there’s nothing in the least bit revolutionary about this whole Talk deal. I do like the fact that the whole deal takes up way less memory than any other IM client I’ve tried, and how simple and direct the UI is. If I didn’t use Gmail though, I wouldn’t see any reason to use it over other IM services that offer VoiP, like Skype. I also haven’t seen any way to send files, which is a major drawback for me.

   I do think its pretty slick how nicely it integrates into the Desktop 2 sidebar. It’s very convenient to have the latest photos from my Flickr friends slide-showed, updates from my favorite sites and blogs, my email and my instant messenger in a single unified layout.

2. The Net is Dead said:

   on August 26th, 2005 at 7:40 am

   Google Talk: so what’s next?

   First they took the crown in search engine land by creating the only search engine on the internet that actually finds what you’re looking for. Then there was an explosion of Google this, Google that and right now it seems Google Everything&trade;…

3. orangeguru said:

   on August 28th, 2005 at 7:51 am

   Well, not every step to world domination is exciting, some are pretty minor.

   I still think they should have release something like Trillian or bought this software anyway - or fused it with Skype … now that would have been spectecular.

   I would love to get rid of all these different service - and have ONE IM network. But those pesky providers won’t talk to each other.

4. a said:

   on February 8th, 2006 at 5:50 am

   you just didn’t get it huh?… so sorry!
   it’s just damm great, and the new feature to include talk into gmail… just extraordinary!… no need to use anything else

Your Thoughts Go Here:

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Powered by WP Hashcash