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Last century, our free Web Mail system was mainly based on Hotmail (which was bought by Microsoft on 1998) and a few other providers. A 2 megabytes storage space seemed to be enough for most of us for a long time, but then Google Mail (GMail) came in... and we found out that we can have 1 GB of mail storage for free (GMail offers now 2.5 GB). Although we didn't know it, we needed Google.
Last century, our Instant Messaging software was ICQ, AOL IM or MSN Messenger and all of them have evolved over time by introducing new features... and this week Google has released Google Talk, a very simple (and basic) Instant Messaging client.
There has been of fuss about this new product and I am quite amazed to see that a lot of people think that it's an excellent product just because it comes from Google. Let's be honest. While Google and Google Mail revolutionized their respective markets, Google Talk is just another instant messaging product.
Expectancies of Google to buy Skype and release a new Instant Messaging product (Googlype?) that would combine the Voice functionalities coming from Skype and with the best-of-breed functionalities coming from other instant messaging products (they should have a look at NotesBuddy Sametime client for a whole bunch of good ideas).
Unfortunately Google has decided to build a product from scratch and it lacks the "magic touch" that we are used to perceive in other Google products. Let's hope Google's fairy godmother comes in soon.
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