One of the things people like to do with Google’s products is search through their source code looking for any possible hints of features to come. As nerds users it is our duty to do that, and the new Gmail 2.0 is no exception.
Ionut over at Google OS started digging through the source code, and saw some hints of more features that are lurking around: color-coded labels, ability to remove emails from a threaded conversation, and Jabber transports. Hmm, Jabber transports? It’s possible that you haven’t even heard of these before, and that’s understandable.
What the Jabber transports do is connect you with other instant messengers services, such as MSN and AIM, by converting received messages into the Jabber format. Google Talk is a Jabber client, and there is some early indication in Gmail’s new source code that a Jabber transport protocol is already in the works. This would give you the ability to add friends from Yahoo!, MSN, AIM, and more!
There are already tricks available for using third-party Jabber transports with Google Talk, but it requires some work. The benefits of having Google implement this is added stability, and it will be much easier to add contacts than trying to go through a third-party transport.
One other indication that Google will be offering such a service lies in the new contact manager. As seen in the screenshot above you can actually add/remove cross-network messenger ID’s for your friends. It could be just a coincidence, but hopefully this all means something!
Note: I still don’t have access to the new Gmail 2.0 features.
Actually, as Google Talk uses Jabber, I always wondered why they didn’t add support for transports in the first release. Well, at least it was possible to use GMail addresses in MSN Messenger
This was a much needed feature after the integration of yahoo and windows IM. let us see how long does it take to be fully implemented.
I want that for Y!
[mail.google.com]
u can click on the link i have given and u will be logging on to the new gmail 2.0
it worked for me…
Google Talk’s market share has been so extremely small that they almost have to add support for other networks if they want it to be successful. This will surely help.
Normally when we see features like this in the code it means the new things are right around the corner. I would give it two or three weeks and I’m sure we’ll see some sort of announcement.
I’ve tried that, and unfortunately it doesn’t work for me.