So, here we go, another version of Google Talk beside the three ones that were already available on the web: Gmail Chat, the main Google Talk application and the iGoogle gadget that lets you talk with your friends straight from your personalized homepage. Google Talk, Labs Edition is the Mountain View-based company's last attempt to attract more instant messaging fans, the application providing several features as the gadget includes emoticons and group chat.

The bad thing about this new flavor of Google Talk is that it's only available for Windows users, so no Mac OS X or Linux version at this time. Regarding Windows Vista, Google explained that Google Talk, Labs Edition is fully compatible with this latest version of Microsoft's Windows, but there are numerous users who encountered problems while attempting to install it. In case you can't get it to work on Windows Vista, try running the installer as administrator.

As you can see, in case you manage to get it to work, Google Talk, Labs Edition lets you access Google Calendar, Gmail and Orkut with a single click straight from your system tray. However, this special release does not include important features such as voice chat or file transfer, functions that are still available in the main Google Talk version.

"Google Talk, Labs Edition is an experimental release that brings some of the great features of the Google Talk Gadget to the desktop. Some features like voice calling and file transfer from the Google Talk client did not make it into this version. If you need to use voice calling or file transfer, you can download the original Google Talk client," the Mountain View company explains in the FAQ section.

If you want to download this special version of Google Talk, you can find it here or right on Softpedia.