Google's Office Gets Instant Messenger

Google Apps, the suite that is often compared to Microsoft's Office, gets a new update that adds communication features to the pack of programs. Basically, the interoperability could be done with ease because the parent company implemented only the Google Talk Gadget that is compatible with the Personalized Homepage, recently-renamed to iGoogle. A few weeks ago, the search giant improved the Gadget with several new features, numerous users sustaining that there is no reason to install the downloadable application since this tiny tool is even more powerful.

The Google Talk Gadget is compatible with several solutions powered by the Mountain View company including the Personalized Homepage, the one that features the communication functions in Google Apps.

"If you use Google Apps at your business, organization or school, you can now use the Google Talk Gadget on your Start Page to have chats with colleagues or classmates (including group chats)," Adam Fass, Software Engineer, said today. "Google Apps also offers collaborative tools, like Google Calendar, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, and the customizable Start Page, where all your students, employees, or members can view relevant content, preview their inboxes and calendars, and now, chat with one or more colleagues or classmates -- all from the same webpage."

As you can see, the Mountain View company tries to get the communication capabilities of its solutions closer to the most powerful products on the market. Yahoo Messenger is the clear leader of the category but it seems that Google targets another side of the chatting solutions: the enterprise market. Since Google Appls was released, most of the company's efforts were meant to conquer the enterprise customers and increase the search giant's presence into this domain. The interesting fact is that Google tries to attract both sides, individuals and enterprise users, with the same products but with different flavors depending on their target.