Lotus Sametime - A New Alternative for Google Talk

Google Talk tends to become one of the most popular chat clients because it contains the perfect features that allow a quick and simple chat. Because it runs on a Jabber-based server, many users decided to replace the default client offered by Google with their own clients that also support Jabber protocol.

Today, a Google employee said that a new alternative for Google Talk is available, after IBM announced support for XMPP with the release of Sametime 7.5.

"Today, we're excited that IBM is announcing support for XMPP with the release of Sametime 7.5. This means that Google Talk and Lotus Sametime IM users can simply invite one another to chat, bringing together enterprise and personal IM users around the world.

If you use Lotus Sametime at the office and have colleagues who use Google Talk, now you can chat with them. Similarly, if you're a Google Talk business user you can now add professional contacts who use Lotus Sametime to your Friends list -- just some of the benefits of interoperability," Mary Himinkool, New Business Development for Google, said.

"Our goal has always been to put real-time communication at users' fingertips whenever and wherever they want it, and standards like XMPP and the commitment of industry partners are essential to achieving that goal. We're glad to be driving both easier collaboration with business associates, some of whom may be using Google Talk through the Google Apps for Your Domain platform for organizations, and a seamless way to stay in touch with friends and family who are on the Google Talk network," said Mike Jazayeri, product manager for Google Talk.

So, while other companies are trying to restrict their chat service to the clients also provided by them, Google wants to enable customers to use their favorite applications to communicate with Google Talk users.