Google Talk Labs Edition

Usually software applications goes from Beta versions to a stable one. May be not with Gtalk. I used to check for updates for my Gtalk regularly, using the built in option. Since years, its still in beta. And Gtalk became unstable these days. It was one of the best sometime ago. Now, frequent sign-off problems, wrong online status, messages not receiving… there started many issues. Was wondering why Google is not interested in fixing this. And I was waiting for the emoticon features in Gtalk. It may be coz they were after a new Gtalk rather than releasing a patch and the result is , Google Talk, Labs Edition (?).

Labs edition is not clear whether it is the latest version or replacement of Gtalk, but it says it is an experimental release of the Google talk client. So, once again it’s a Beta version called in a new way. It has most of the features of old Gtalk plus emoticons (but no where near the yahoo ones). When we right click, the options we get also has something new. They have incorporated Calendar and Orkut too. And overall , its looks NEW.

There is no Mac version available as of now. But can we completely replace the Gtalk with the new Labs Edition? Unfortunately the answer is NO. It is coz the Labs edition don’t support voice calling and file transfer. If somebody still use Gtalk for voice chat, they need to stick to it or keep both Gtalk and Labs edition.

To put it in a nutshell, the Labs edition looks exactly like the web based Google Talk! Only major difference is that Labs need a download and installation.

Google Labs Edition can be downloaded from :

http://www.google.com/talk/labsedition/

Looking for the old Gtalk? Get it from :

http://www.google.com/talk/