Google Talk is now speaking to other Jabber servers, nearly six months after the company released the instant messaging application.
Open federation is now part of Google Talk, meaning the software can communicate eith other Jabber-based instant messaging clients, according to Google’s developer FAQ.
This enhanced interoperability is a departure from the software’s initial incarnation.
Google Talk was released as a Google Beta in late August to much fanfare.
But it was missing one key critical feature: The ability to communicate with other Jabber XMPP servers.
At the heart of Google Talk is the Jabber XMPP
Before this week, non Google Talk XMPP clients, for example the popular Gaim instant messaging application (which coincidentally is led by Google employee Sean Egan ), could load a Google Talk account profile but would only be allowed to chat with other Google Talk users.
Thanks to federation, these applications are free to talk amongst their peers.
“In addition to the Google Talk service, many other companies, universities, and corporations support open federation today,” Mike Jazayeri, product manager, Google Talk wrote in a blog post.
“This means you can now talk to millions of users around the world all with a single account on the service provider of your choice.”
Thanks to Google’s efforts, there is now also an specification called “Jingle” that will allow for voice over the Jabber XMPP protocol.