Google Talk Multi User Chat
So I read about the fact that Google Talk now has multi-user chat from here and here. Unfortunately it is currently only on one of their web clients (though another Google user is redirected to the client) and it doesn't play with any standard Jabber MUC.
I was wondering if was a pre-beta slip release but since Google have just posted about it recently, then I guess not. It did benefit in one way, that is Google Talk users using other clients can now be invited into MUC chats which they couldn't before. I was talking about this on the jdev channel and someone suggested that Google might not be using XEP-045 but the fact that they now listen to invites suggest that they are. Perhaps it is something they can address in the near future. I'm happy using other clients most of the time but for other people who use Google Talk only it would be annoying to try and convince them to install Gajim or whatever.
2 comments:
Is it a proprietary protocol they're using? I doubt it, but the fact that it only now supports MUC is a surprise.
I use spark as a front-end for jabber, which I first heard about from you, several years ago. We use it for offline coordination in Goonfleet, for one thing.
They are using Jabber/XMPP. Though they have customised it a bit (which is what the spec was designed to allow anyway). I was surprised to see how long it took them to get MUC, I was expecting it much sooner. Even so I'm a bit disappointed about the half-baked attempt they did produce.
Spark is OK. It's voice chat is using the protocol that Google created for Jabber; Jingle. However Google have fallen behind the spec and therefore they aren't compatible with one and other. Apparently the spec will be finalised soon and then everyone will implement the final version and they'll all get along... apparently.
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