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Talking
Brian Baskin Joshua Brashars Technical Editor Johnny Long
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You should always use reasonable care, including backup and other appropriate precautions, when working with
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IMWQ295T6T PUBLISHED BY Syngress Publishing, Inc. 800 Hingham Street Rockland, MA 02370 Google Talking
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publication. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0ISBN-13: 978-1-59749-055-9 Publisher: Andrew Williams Page Layout and Art: Patricia Lupien Acquisitions Editor: Erin Heffernan Copy Editor: Darlene Bordwell Technical Editor: Johnny Long Cover Designer: Michael Kavish Distributed by O’Reilly Media, Inc. in the United States and Canada. For information on rights, translations, and bulk sales, contact Matt Pedersen, Director of Sales and Rights, at Syngress Publishing; email [email protected] or fax to 781-681-3585.
Acknowledgments
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 O’Reilly Media, Inc.The enthusiasm and work ethic at O’Reilly are incredible, and we would like to thank everyone there for their time and efforts to bring Syngress books to market:Tim O’Reilly, Laura Baldwin, Mark Brokering, Mike Leonard, Donna Selenko, Bonnie Sheehan, Cindy Davis, Grant Kikkert, Opol Matsutaro, Steve Hazelwood, Mark Wilson, Rick Brown,Tim Hinton, Kyle Hart, Sara Winge, C. J. Rayhill, Peter Pardo, Leslie Crandell, Regina Aggio, Pascal Honscher, Preston Paull, Susan Thompson, Bruce Stewart, Laura Schmier, Sue Willing, Mark Jacobsen, Betsy Waliszewski, Kathryn Barrett, John Chodacki, Rob Bullington, Aileen Berg, and Wendy Patterson. The incredibly hardworking team at Elsevier Science, including Jonathan Bunkell, Ian Seager, Duncan Enright, David Burton, Rosanna Ramacciotti, Robert Fairbrother, Miguel Sanchez, Klaus Beran, Emma Wyatt, Chris Hossack, Krista Leppiko, Marcel Koppes, Judy Chappell, Radek Janousek, and Chris Reinders for making certain that our vision remains worldwide in scope. David Buckland, Marie Chieng, Lucy Chong, Leslie Lim, Audrey Gan, Pang Ai Hua, Joseph Chan, and Siti Zuraidah Ahmad of STP Distributors for the enthusiasm with which they receive our books. David Scott, Tricia Wilden, Marilla Burgess, Annette Scott, Andrew Swaffer, Stephen O’Donoghue, Bec Lowe, Mark Langley, and Anyo Geddes of Woodslane for distributing our books throughout Australia, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Fiji,Tonga, Solomon Islands, and the Cook Islands.
v
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.
vii
Technical Editor
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 http://johnny.ihackstuff.com .
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 (http://www.invisiblechildren.com).
He’s behind you guys all the way!
viii
Contributing Authors
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.
ix 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. x 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .17Chapter 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 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .38xii Contents
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
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
xiv Contents
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
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
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
Chapter 1 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
Summary Solutions Fast Track Frequently Asked Questions
1
2 Chapter 1 • Introduction 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 (http://docs.google.com), maintain your calendar schedules (www.google. com/calendar/), and store your favorite photos (http://picasaweb.google. 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.
Continued
6 Chapter 1 • Introduction 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 aswell as all the latest celebrity gossip.
Figure 1.1 AOL Instant Messenger 5.9ICQ
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 MessengerAlthough 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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aiming for the top of the food chain with a recent deal with Yahoo! that will allow the two clients to share user communications.
Yahoo! Messenger
With the arrival of Google,Yahoo! has been fighting for its identity in the online world. Its second-rate search engine was recently updated to match the power of Google’s search engine, but a lot of its attention has been placed on Yahoo! Messenger. If you are looking for flash-bang graphical overload, Yahoo! will probably be your client of choice. Not only can you force gaudy commercialized themes, called IMVironments, onto your friends, but you can also play a game of checkers with them. In Figure 1.4, you will notice that you are pushed into a variety of advertisements for Pop-Tarts,Yahoo! Movies Trailer plug-in,Yahoo! Voice Chat,Yahoo! Music LAUNCHcast,Yahoo! 360*, Yahoo! Weather, and the Yahoo! Search engine.
However,Yahoo! Messenger has found its niche, since it holds the third largest user base of IM clients, with approximately 21 million users (www.thestreet.com/_googlen/markets/jamesaltucher/10242834.html). Its numbers are sure to fluctuate as it finally has merged its protocol with Microsoft Live Messenger in summer 2005, allowing Yahoo! and Microsoft Live users to communicate with each other.
Figure 1.4 Yahoo! Messenger10 Chapter 1 • Introduction
Ever heard of QQ? You probably haven’t, although it is the most popular IM chat client in the world. It has over 220 million active users on its service; that’s more active users than all the other clients discussed here combined! However, its user base is predominantly Asian, with large usage in China, Korea, and Japan, along with significant usage in South Africa. So why do I mention it? Well, 220 million users can’t be wrong! However, much of this success is because QQ operates very anonymously, without even requiring an e-mail address for registration. QQ features a very clean and simple interface, as shown in Figure 1.5, with no advertisements and no pushy pop-up win- dows.There are no additional frill packages, just honest-to-goodness chat.This is what the people want, and they have been waiting for it here in the United States! Their wishes have finally been answered with Google Talk.
Figure 1.5 QQ Main Screenwww.syngress.com
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11 What’s Wrong With This Picture?
Now that you’ve briefly looked through what the market has to offer, what do you see wrong? There is plenty to complain about: advertisements, pop- up windows, portal home pages, dozens of icons and buttons, and a lack of concise design. Much of these products are tailored towards the young teenage crowd, with an emphasis on games and playing “dress up” with your own avatar. What about the practical user in all of us? Our inner adult wants to get down to brass tacks, bypass all of the graphical fluff, and just chat with friends. We don’t care what dress Tiffany’s fictional avatar is wearing. What we want is a simple to use program that makes it easy to find our friends and talk to them, as shown in Figure 1.6. The answer for this type of user is Google Talk.
Figure 1.6 Google Talk ClientIntroducing Google Talk
The Google Talk client was a huge step forward for Google as a means of tying in communications with its wide suite of applications. For one, Google Talk is one of the few open-standard chat services around, using the widely
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popular Jabber protocol. It is ubiquitous in your world, allowing you to con- nect through a standalone client, Google Mail, or many of Google’s other Web-based applications.
When Google Talk was envisioned, the planners decided to take advantage of the Jabber protocol, an open-standard protocol based upon XML that’s used in a large variety of networks. Its design makes it easy for third-party developers to create modifications and extensions to Google Talk or create their own clients that can converse with Google Talk users.This is vastly different from all the other prominent IM services, which use their own closed-source protocols and spend countless hours blocking access from outside clients.
Google Talking Without a Client
Throughout this book we will become intimately familiar with the Google Talk standalone client, shown in Figure 1.6. However, that is not the only means of communication. Google turned a lot of heads when it decided to implement Google Talk capabilities within Google Mail, as shown in Figure
1.7. Using any Internet-accessible computer in the world, you can now jump in to check your Gmail and chat with all your friends. Although there is a bit of difference in how the standalone and the Web-based clients work, they share the same protocol and basic functionality. Many of these differences will be discussed later in this book, and we’ll discuss how you can setup and use each of these implementations.
Figure 1.7 Google Mail Chatwww.syngress.com
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13 Obviously, the sky is the limit for an application like Google Talk, with the
full resources of Google, Inc. behind it. Google Talk has already been imple- mented into other Google apps, such as their Google Desktop (http://desktop. google.com), with the potential for it to be included in numerous other appli- cations, such as Google’s Documents and Spreadsheets applications. Google’s interoperability is often the butt of many jokes, though, after the recent press that they have received over their ad-based Google Mail system. Pretty soon, we may see Google Talk monitoring our conversations, as demonstrated in the UserFriendly.org comic strip in Figure 1.8.
Figure 1.8 Google Talk Helping With Bad English(http://ars.userfriendly.org/cartoons/?id=20050828) Notes From the Underground…
Docs and Spreadsheets Aren’t There Yet
Many people who use Google’s Web-based applications will notice some of the many advanced features that they provide, such as a discussion capability. In Google Spreadsheets, you can open a shared spreadsheet
Continued document with your friends, family, or coworkers and send messages about the content while simultaneously editing the document. Such a chat feature might seem right up Google Talk’s alley, but it’s actually using a standard Web-based chat format. However, keep your eyes on it; there is great hope for what Google Docs and Spreadsheets can become. Think of creating a new spreadsheet and picking names off your Google Talk contact list to share the contents with, then tying in the discussion with your Talk buddies.
Google Talking On the Go
Along with its Web-based interface for communicating with others, Google Talk is also available on a number of portable communication devices, such as the RIM BlackBerry, as shown in Figure 1.9, and the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet.There is strong potential for an even greater market presence with Google Talk for Palm devices and cell phones. How about Google Talk on your wrist watch?
Figure 1.9 Google Talk for the RIM BlackBerry (Courtesy of Google Inc.)www.syngress.com
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Introduction • Chapter 1
15 Solutions Fast-Track
How Did We Get Here?
The instant-messaging world that we currently enjoy has been in development for well over a decade as dozens of IM clients battled for market dominance. The use of IM marks a significant departure in the way modern Internet users view their online friends and their time online.Today we don’t want to commit ourselves to a chat application and invest the time in sitting in chat rooms. We want instantaneous communication with friends and family, no matter what we are doing at the time.
The Rise of Google