vnz 0330 google talking (2006)

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Brian Baskin
Joshua Brashars
Johnny Long
Technical Editor
Google
™
Talking
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Google Talking
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Acknowledgments
v
Syngress would like to acknowledge the following people for their kindness
and support in making this book possible.
Syngress books are now distributed in the United States and Canada by
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enthusiasm with which they receive our books.
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vii
Lead Author
Brian Baskin [MCP, CTT+] is a researcher and developer for
Computer Sciences Corporation. In his work, he researches,
develops, and instructs computer forensic techniques for members of
the government, military, and law enforcement. Brian currently spe-
cializes in Linux/Solaris intrusion investigations, as well as in-depth
analysis of various network protocols. He also has a penchant for
penetration testing and is currently developing and teaching basic
exploitation techniques for clients.
Brian has been developing and instructing computer security
courses since 2000, including presentations and training courses at
the annual Department of Defense Cyber Crime Conference. He is
an avid amateur programmer in many languages, beginning when
his father purchased QuickC for him when he was 11, and has
geared much of his life around the implementations of technology.
Brian has written a handful of Mozilla Firefox extensions; some, like
Passive Cache, are publicly available. He currently spends most of
his time writing insecure PHP/MySQL web-based apps. Brian has
been a Linux fanatic since 1994, and is slowly being drawn to the
dark side of Apples and Macs.
Brian would like to thank his wife and family for their con-
tinued support and motivation, as well as his friends and others who
have helped him along the way: j0hnny, Grumpy Andy, En”Ron,”
Thane,“Pappy,”“M,” Steve O., Chris pwnbbq, Koko, Rissa,
Mailman, and others who he may have forgotten. Most impor-
tantly, Brian would like to thank his parents for their continuous
faith and sacrifice to help him achieve his dreams.
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viii

Johnny Long has presented at SANS and other computer security
conferences nationwide, including the Black Hat Briefings. In addi-
tion, he has presented before several government entities. His is the
author of the best-selling Google Hacking for Penetration Testers
(Syngress, ISBN: 1931836361). During his career as an attack and
penetration specialist, he performed active network and physical
security assessments (one in the cube is worth twenty on the net)
for hundreds of government and commercial clients. He is a Black
Hat featured speaker, and his website can be found at
.
Johnny is a Christian by grace, a family guy by choice, a profes-
sional hacker by trade, a pirate by blood, a ninja in training, a secu-
rity researcher, and an author. Johnny is thankful for much. He
thanks Christ first. He gives thanks to Jen, Makenna,Trevor, and
Declan.These guys pay the price when deadlines hit. Johnny thanks
them for understanding and supporting him.They have his love,
always. He also thanks Andrew and the rest of his Syngress family.
He thanks Brian and Josh. He appreciates their time and commit-
ment to this project. Great work! Johnny gives thanks to the
johnny.ihackstuff.com mods (Murf, Jimmy Neutron, JBrashars, CP
Klouw, Sanguis,ThePsyko, Wolveso) and members for their help and
support.
Shouts: Nathan B, Sujay S, Stephen S, James Foster, Jenny Yang,
SecurityTribe, the Shmoo Group, Sensepost, Blackhat, Defcon, Neal
Stephenson (Baroque), Stephen King (on Writing),Ted Dekker
(Thr3e), P.O.D., Pillar, Project86, Shadowvex,Yoshinori Sunahara,
Pat C.To Jason Russell, Bobby Bailey and Laren Poole for the
Invisible Children movement ().
He’s behind you guys all the way!
Technical Editor

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ix
Joshua Brashars is a telecommunications and security specialist in
San Diego. He spends his time working with Secure Science
Corporation’s External Threat Assessment Team, breaking things
apart and taping them back together. Joshua has contributed to sev-
eral books with Syngress Publishing and has presented at confer-
ences and universities across the United States.
Josh wrote Chapter 2, Installation.
Michael Gough is host and webmaster of www.VideoCallTips.
com, which was launched in January 2005 and receives more than
81,000 hits per month. He is also the author of Skype Me! From
Single User to Small Enterprise and Beyond (Syngress Publishing,
ISBN, 1-59749-032-6) and webmaster of www.SkypeTips.com,
which receives more than 140,000 hits per month. Michael writes
articles on personal videoconferencing and related issues and con-
tributes to the Networking Pipeline section of Skype.com. He also
explains personal videoconferencing options and instructions to
users so that they can practically apply video calls at home and
while out of town on business to stay in touch with family and
friends. Michael also evaluates products for vendors and posts ratings
on his Web sites. He evaluates products used with video calls and
provides feedback to the vendors on features and improvements to
help drive the direction of video call-related products. Michael is
also the host and webmaster for www.InternetVisitation.org, a
Web site focused on helping people understand how to make video
calls to family and friends after divorce, and maintains ratings of the
many video call solutions available. Michael gives presentations on
this subject at several conferences around the country to educate
attorneys on the use of video calls in divorce—a practice known as

virtual visitation, and www.InternetVisitation.org currently
receives 100,000 hits per month.
Contributing Authors
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x
Michael’s full-time employment is as a Computer Security
Consultant with 18 years’ experience in the computer technology
field. He works for a Fortune 500 where he delivers security con-
sulting services to their clients. He also presents for his company at
many trade shows and conferences and works with associations and
groups, advising agencies like the FBI on Skype security and the
Center for Internet Security on wireless security.
Michael wrote Appendix A, Introduction to Video Calling and
Appendix B, Free Video Software.
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xi
Contents
Chapter 1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
How Did We Get Here? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .2
The Rise of Google . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .3
The Instant Messaging World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
America Online Instant Messenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
ICQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .6
Microsoft Windows Live Messenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .8
Yahoo! Messenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .9
QQ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .10
What’s Wrong With This Picture? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Introducing Google Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .11
Google Talking Without a Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12
Google Talking On the Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Solutions Fast Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17
Chapter 2 Installation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Minimum System Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .20
Connection Speed—Broadband vs. Dial-Up . . . . . . . . . .20
Upload and Download Speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .21
Testing Your Bandwidth Speeds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Microphone and Speakers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Headsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .22
Microphone and Headphones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
Bluetooth Headsets . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .23
USB Phones . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .24
Personal Computer (PC) Requirements . . . . . . . . . . . . .25
Installing Google Talk on Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .26
Troubleshooting Windows Audio Recording . . . . . . .27
Installing the Application . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .31
Solutions for Fast Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .37
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38
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Chapter 3 Google Talk for Non-Windows Users . . . . . . 39
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .40
Gaim for Linux . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Setting Up Your Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .41
Using Gaim . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .44
iChat for OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .45
Setting Up Your Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .46
Using iChat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .48
iChat Limitations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50

Adium X for OS X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .50
Setting Up Your Account . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .51
Using Adium X . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .53
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .55
Solutions Fast Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .56
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .57
Chapter 4 Google Talk Usage. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 59
Using Google Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Your Contact List . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .60
Adding Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .61
Changing Your Contact List View . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .64
Interacting With Contacts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .66
Setting Status . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .68
Google Music Trends . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .70
Chatting With Google Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .71
Emoticons and Text Formatting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .72
Reviewing Old Chats . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .73
Chatting “Off the Record” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .74
Speaking Your Mind . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .75
Voice Chat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .76
Voicemail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Sharing Files and Tunes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .77
Personalizing Your Google Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .78
Avatars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .79
Themes and Skins . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .80
Configuration Settings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .81
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Contents xiii
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .88
Solutions Fast Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .89

Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .91
Chapter 5 Google Talk Add-ons and Modifications . . . 93
Making Google Talk Yours . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
GT-Plug . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .94
Extended Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .100
Creating Your Own Theme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Creating the Necessary Files . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .104
Altering Message Displays . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .106
Primary CSS Data . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .112
Reach Out and Touch Someone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .113
Surprise Mom With a Call From Google Talk . . . . . . .114
VoIP Over Talqer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .114
VoIP Using GTalk-To-VoIP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .118
Can You See Me Now? Good! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .122
Fun and Games with Festoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .128
Using Festoon as a Business Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .129
Sex Change in a Download . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .130
Become A Google Talk DJ . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .132
Quick and Dirty Broadcasting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .133
DJ’ing Through Mercora . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Google Talk Chat Rooms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .137
Pushing the Envelope . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
Google Talk to Go . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .142
Sleeping With The Enemy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .146
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .154
Solutions Fast Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .156
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Links to Sites . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .159
Chapter 6 Proxy Use. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162

What Are Proxies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .162
Why Use Proxies? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .163
Configuring Google Talk to Use Proxies . . . . . . . . . . . . . .165
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Onion Router Proxies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .166
How Onion Routing Works . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .167
Configuring Google Talk to
Use Onion Routing Proxies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .169
Using an SSH Tunnel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .170
Creating an SSH Tunnel in Windows . . . . . . . . . . . . . .171
Creating an SSH Tunnel in Linux and OS X . . . . . . . .173
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .174
Solutions Fast Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .175
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .176
Chapter 7 Google Talk in the Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . 179
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .180
Implementing Google Talk in Your Network . . . . . . . . . . .180
Configuring for Google Talk: Standalone Client . . . . . .180
Deploying Google Talk Client . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .181
Deploying Google Talk: Client Registry Changes . . .181
Allowing Google Talk Client Network Traffic . . . . .183
Configuring for Google Talk: Google Mail . . . . . . . . . .183
Blocking Google Talk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184
Blocking Google Talk Traffic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .184
Blocking Google Talk from Executing . . . . . . . . . . . . .185
Enterprise Security and Control of Google Talk . . . . . . . . .188
Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .190
Solutions Fast Track . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .192
Frequently Asked Questions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .193

Appendix A Introduction to Video Calling . . . . . . . . . 195
Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196
Personal Videoconferencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196
Business Videoconferencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .196
Web Videoconferencing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197
What Is a Video Call? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .197
Where Can You Perform Video Calls? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .200
Appendix B Free Video Call Software . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Overview . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .204
One-on-One Video Call Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .205
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Contents xv
AOL Instant Messenger (AIM 5.9)
and AOL Triton (BETA) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .206
Apple iChat AV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .207
Festoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .208
IVisit Lite . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
Microsoft MSN Messenger 7.5
(Windows Live Messenger 8.0 BETA) . . . . . . . . . . . . .211
SightSpeed . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .214
Skype 2.0 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .218
Spontania Video4IM . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .223
WigiWigi—Vwho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .226
Yahoo Messenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
ZoomCall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .227
Multiuser Video Call Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228
Apple iChat AV . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .228
Festoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .229
WigiWigi—Vwho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .230
Multi-IM Video Call Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .231

EyeBall Chat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .232
Festoon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
FWD.Communicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .233
PalTalk Basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
QNext . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .234
Trillian Basic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235
TryFast . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235
WigiWigi Vwho . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .235
SIP Video Call Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .236
FWD.Communicator . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .237
INEEN . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238
Lycos Phone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .238
Sony/GlowPoint IVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .239
Yak Virtual Videophone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .240
H.323 Video Call Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241
EnvisionSL . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .241
Microsoft NetMeeting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242
Chat-Room-Based Video Call Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . .242
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xvi Contents
CamFrog . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
Chatablanca . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .243
CUWorld . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
DKMessenger . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .244
EyeBall Chat . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
LIvVE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
PalTalk . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .245
Other Video Call Solutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246
Microsoft Portrait . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .246
Obsolete, End-of-Life, or Discontinued Solutions . . .247

Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .248
Index. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
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Introduction
Solutions in this chapter:
■
Where Did Instant Messaging Come From?
■
Other Popular IM Clients and How Google
Talk Stacks Up
■
How You Can Implement Google Talk in
Your Life
Chapter 1
1
 Summary
 Solutions Fast Track
 Frequently Asked Questions
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How Did We Get Here?
We live in a grand age in which information flows at the speed of light and
regional boundaries collapse under the weight of the Internet. Once upon a
time, our parents were penpals to others living in foreign nations, scratching
out long messages on paper to be mailed off. Weeks would pass without
notice or confirmation, until suddenly a heavily stamped envelope would
arrive from a friend overseas. Now we enjoy instantaneous communication to
nearly every country in the world.The world of penpals and business has
become one of instant global communication. But the struggle to get to this
point has been long and filled with peril. We are at a stage where the world
of communications is being turned upside down, and many users and busi-

nesses are forced to make a choice: to adopt new technology or to confine
themselves to the relics of ancient devices.
Personally, I have been lucky to follow the advent of the instant-messaging
world from the beginning. It all started with the days of bulletin board sys-
tems (BBSs) running Renegade and PCBoard, which had very basic chat
components to allow you to “talk” with the handful of others who could be
on the same BBS at the same time. It was the introduction of FidoNet, an
old-school mail-relaying system, that whetted my appetite for international
communication. I quickly established my own bulletin board as a FidoNet
node, allowing myself and my users to send messages to the vast reaches of
the world.The fall of the BBS world led to my time in Internet Relay Chat
(IRC), which after 12 years I’m still in the habit of visiting. Back when the
BBSs crumbled, the world wasn’t ready for instant messaging. Everyone was
accustomed to their chat rooms on AOL, IRC, CompuServe, and Prodigy,
where they could join a channel of other random “thirty-somethings” and
discuss the latest Seinfeld episode.
When ICQ, the first IM service, hit the market in 1996, there was a gen-
eral feeling of “Why would anyone want this?”The chat rooms were more
than proficient at allowing us to talk to our friends, and there seemed little to
be gained from an IM client. Still, many of us quickly signed up for accounts
to play with the new idea. Over time, IM began to play a more central part in
my life and in the lives of others around me. When I wanted to hop online
for a few minutes to check my e-mail, minutes turned into hours as my
friends could immediately see that I had logged in and initiate chats.The
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world of chat rooms felt too confining at this point; it was too much protocol
to join a server, find a chat room, see who was awake and around, and get
caught up in channel politics just to talk to a friend. Instant messaging

allowed me to quickly “ping” a friend and share information.
As AOL released its Instant Messenger application (AIM), followed by
Yahoo! and Microsoft Messenger, I registered on each to explore the new fea-
tures and worlds opened to me. I can at least say that I’m happy not to have
any screen names that end with a number.After using just about every client
for long periods of time, I remained comfortable with ICQ and AIM.That
was until August 2005, when Google Talk was released. After a rocky start, I
began using Google Talk exclusively as my chat client. It provided all the
main features that I wanted, without all the fluff that the other clients offered.
The Rise of Google
Google Inc. has recently joined the instant-messaging foray with the release of
Google Talk. Everyone seems to know Google. Well known for creating the
most advanced search engine of its time, Google has become synonymous
with information gathering and research—so much so that in the summer of
2006, Merriam-Webster and the Oxford English Dictionary included the
word Google as a verb meaning to search for information on a person using
the Google search engine. Google’s search engine and its related advertising
services have turned Google Inc. into an overnight success, with over 10,000
employees scattered throughout central California and even in Microsoft’s
backyard of Redmond, Washington.
The Google machine has been working overtime in recent years, pro-
ducing a large number of free applications to help the common computer
user and to change people’s perspective of Internet technology.The most well
known of these is Google Mail, a free Web-based mail service provided by
Google. Known affectionately as Gmail, it launched on April 1, 2004, with the
promise of 1 Gigabyte of information storage to any invited member.The
invite-only structure still exists, as Gmail is still technically in the Beta stage,
but with an abundance of invitations granted to each user and numerous invi-
tations ending up on eBay for sale, just about any user who wants an account
is allowed one.As of early 2006, Gmail served 6.7 million users, vastly fewer

than its competitors, but for a new service it is gaining ground. Not only does
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Google store the accounts for millions of users, but it also maintains an invis-
ible social network, tying various accounts together. Google knows who
invited you to join their Google Mail service, as well as whom your friends
are in Google Talk, creating an interesting network of your friends and family.
Other Google services, such as Orkut (www.orkut.com), make this social net-
work visible by allowing you to invite new friends to join your social circle.
Google has also started work on its line of Web-based office applications.
It currently offers the ability to create and store documents and spreadsheets
(), maintain your calendar schedules (www.google.
com/calendar/), and store your favorite photos (gle.
com). We’ll take a look at many of these applications and see how Google
Talk plays a vital role in then.
Notes From the Underground…
Google Beta?
Anyone who follows Google’s products will notice that a large majority of
them are in Beta, a term describing the overall status of the software as
not quite complete but good enough for mass testing. You might be
familiar with the term Beta test, whereby a product is considered com-
plete enough to warrant scrutiny and stress testing. Well, Google Talk is a
Beta product, under Beta testing by millions of users. It joins the large
Google family of Beta products, such as Google Mail. What this ultimately
means is that the product has not been finalized into a releasable product
and could undergo changes at any time.
It is important to note that this book covers the Beta version of
Google Talk. That means that new features might be implemented by the
time you’ve installed it, and other features might be altered and removed.

The Instant-Messaging World
Chances are that you are already using an instant-messaging client of some
sort, and would like to know what Google Talk can offer you. Google Talk
provides quite a few unique features, but what it is really known for is what it
does not offer you: advertisements, spyware, information overload, and other
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useless junk that other IM clients are known for. In this section, we’ll take a
brief look at Google’s competition in the IM market.
America Online Instant Messenger
Currently,AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) is the most popular instant-mes-
saging service in use in the United States. Precise numbers are hard to deter-
mine, but comScore judged that AIM has 54 million users as of July 2005,
giving it a significant market presence.AIM is the big name in the IM world,
there is no doubt about that.Although not the first IM service,AIM has the
largest number of users with its existing America Online user base and the
millions of others who registered just to use its chat client.
AIM gave users the ability to log into any computer across the world that
had the AIM client and immediately receive their full contact lists, showing
which of their buddies were online at the time. It was the perfect product for
the busy traveler and student, who might use hundreds of machines during
the course of a year. Chat was effortless, as was the transfer of files from one
machine to another.
However, over time, a disease crept into AOL Instant Messenger. A disease
called creeping featuritis, which often proves fatal.
Notes From the Underground
Hide Your Daughters, It’s Creeping Featuritis!
Creeping featuritis occurred when an application loses “its roots” and
begins to throw in as many new features as they can possibly fit, even if

it proves detrimental to the original concept of the tool. I wish I could say
that AIM was the sole sufferer of this wasting sickness, but it proved to
take hold of most IM services. As a prior software developer, I know the
temptation of it all too well. I remember thinking, “I’ll just add one more
feature that the users will love and everyone will adore me” But, the
implementation of that one feature leads to two more, then three more,
and soon your old ideas are becoming ugly and bug ridden while you
focus on the next new idea.
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The unfortunate side effect is that more focus and development goes
into the creation of new ideas and add-ons, instead of making the already
existing features pristine and bullet-proof. Typical features creeps in IM
clients include themes, enhanced smiley faces, games, greeting cards and
avatars.
AOL Instant Messenger was also used as a vehicle to push advertisements
and other AOL features to users who really couldn’t care less, as shown in
Figure 1.1.AOL also touts its AIM Today portal to all users, insisting that they
really do want a one-stop shop for all their e-mail and personal settings as
well as all the latest celebrity gossip.
Figure 1.1 AOL Instant Messenger 5.9
ICQ
ICQ is known as the first true instant-messaging client, released in late
1996, and has long been known for its outlandish sound effects. ICQ was
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designed with a peculiar name, an acoronym for “I Seek You,” by a team of

Israeli programmers. ICQ itself hosts over 20 million active users from all
across the world, as stated by one of AOL’s press statements
(www.corp.aol.com/products/brands_icq.shtml).This user base is contested,
though; since ICQ and AIM share the same protocol, there is a chance that
the number is dramatically lower. Some market analysts put the ICQ user
base at a meager 1.8 million.
Life for ICQ changed quite a bit, though, in 2000, when it was acquired
by America Online. ICQ was left alone to continue to prosper, but its back-
end protocol design was altered to become compatible with AIM, allowing
AIM and ICQ users to communicate with each other.
Although ICQ doesn’t commandeer the great number of users that other
services do, it has an established presence in many foreign markets. It also
touts itself as a medium for online dating and relationships through its com-
plex homepage that attempts to find compatible chat partners. Unfortunately,
like many other IM clients, it relies on many advertisements for its own fea-
tures and for other service providers, as shown in Figure 1.2.
Figure 1.2 ICQ 2003b Pro
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Microsoft Windows Live Messenger
The up and coming challenger in the instant messaging world comes from
Microsoft, the behemoth from Redmond, Washington that likes its fingers in
all of the pies.Their Microsoft Network (MSN) service was an attempt to
dominate the ISP world and compete with AOL, but the only real by-product
seems to be MSN Messenger. MSN Messenger ended up being one of the
cleanest and produced more efficient IM clients for its time. With the release
of Windows Vista, Microsoft is moving forward with its MSN replacement,
Windows Live Messenger (WLM), as shown in Figure 1.3. WLM is proving
to be quite a capable IM client, with a much cleaner interface than most of its

competition.
Figure 1.3 Microsoft Live Messenger
Although it does have a hefty 17 different menu icons for services such as
MSN Video, MSN Shopping, MSN Dating, MSN Games, Rhapsody music,
and eBay, these are all mostly hidden away from the user.And just like every
other prominent client, it urges you to use its portal system, in this case MSN
Today, to catch up on your daily gossip. WLM does capture the second largest
user base in the IM community, though, with approximately 23 active million
users, as reported by comScore in July 2005. However, Microsoft is still
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