At Which Point, The Cornered Rats -- er, The Telecoms -- Pulled Out The Long Knives

[filkertom]

Starting today, you can call any phone from Google Mail.

ETA: Obviously, there are some newnesses about it. It appears to be for US Gmail accounts only. And I can't get the plug-in to install for Firefox, or at least Gmail says I have to install it when I'm running it in Firefox. Voice chat worked superbly from Chrome.

Comments

[ebenbrooks.livejournal.com]

Wow! How bloody awesome is that?

Thanks for the link. This makes my day.

[mimiheart.livejournal.com]

w00t!

[beki.livejournal.com]

It will be interesting to see what happens with that. The telecoms are going to pitch a fit since Google voice is basically VOIP service which is unregulated. Maybe one day we won't be charged for calls, it will be part of our internet packages. I know that telecoms in general are trying to move folk away from their copper to move onto fiber.

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

OK. I gotta wonder. What's in it for Google? I suspect this is a free-now-charge-later thing, but surely they're not *just* doing that. Where's the bucks?

The other thing that bugs me is, this is just one more addition to making Google a Big Fat Target for snoopers of all kinds, badged and unbadged... one more brick in the World Cathedral to which, if Eric Schmidt had his way, we would all have to bow in order to so much as sneeze on the Intartoobz... and Eric Schmidt don't believe in privacy.

And now they think they might want me to *work for them*...

You see why my head hurts?

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

But if you work for them you will be able to tell us what they're snooping on, privacy wise. You could be our "ear inside."

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

Oh, yeah, there's always the devil's advocate/mole/sleeper agent avenue to explore. That thought had already occurred to me....

Not sure I wanna go there, though.

[jrtom.livejournal.com]

Answer: we're not. :)

Denies Evil Plot

[wjb3-reads.livejournal.com]

Google Denies Evil Plot and Explains:

( http://m.gizmodo.com/5622675/gmail-voice-is-about-future-search-not-free-calls )

"Update: Google got back to us and are denying this theory entirely. Here's their statement:

Actually, it is about free calls. We're not using call phones in Gmail to improve our voice search features. The revenue from international calling will cover the costs of free calls, and we'd encourage you to give your friends overseas a ring!"

=FIN

Re: Denies Evil Plot

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

And you believe our evil overlords when they say black is white?

Oh, did I say overlords, I meant protectors.... fnord, fnord...

[umbran.livejournal.com]

The article notes that calls to the US and Canada will be free for the rest of the year, leaving open a charge for the service later.

I don't think the telecoms will get out the long knives for this. If you call a normal phone line, the telecoms'll get paid for it, I am sure. The days of Ma Bell monopoly have been gone for a long time - competition in this market isn't anything new.

[catsittingstill.livejournal.com]

It is cool, but my main computer is too old to do it :-(

I could put it on the auxiliary computer, though :-)

Does anyone know how well the video chat works?

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

I've used the video chat on Google chat before ... and it worked fine ... but the person I tried it with and I were having some connection problems and felt that skype was working better (and had some features that google chat didn't) so we switched back to skype.

[the-magician.livejournal.com]

I went to that article ... and it has at the bottom, a list of "links to this post", and you are #3!

Go you!!

[aunty_marion]

So far (it says) only for US-based gmail accounts. Which is why, I assume, it's shown up in MY main gmail account as it was one I took out only very shortly after gmail opened for business. The other gmail account hasn't got it, but that was - originally - a 'googlemail' UK account...

I bet it wouldn't work if I tried it, though. And I'd have to see if my headset/mike was still working, probably.

[sffilk.livejournal.com]

I hate to say this, but that concept is so several years ago. Skype has done it for years.

[filkertom.livejournal.com]

So have several other clients. First and foremost, however, this provides one huge advantage: instant contact integration. If you've got all your contacts in Gmail, then you technically no longer need Skype. And if you get an e-mail from someone, it only takes one click to add them to your contacts, as opposed to setting them up or finding them in Skype.

Not to mention that, right now, calling any regular phone in the U.S. or Canada is free, and their international rates are a bit more than competitive.

[peachtales.livejournal.com]

I got it last August and had mostly been using it for job search, so I wouldn't have to put a real phone # out there on web sites. It's neat stuff!
It is also the cheapest way I can find to call my family in Switzerland. If, of course, google ever allows a different purchase method than their checkout, which saves card info by default. DO NOT WANT! Yes, I know I can delete it after, but it should not be saved to begin with, and this is important to me. It should be opt-in to saving, rather than the assumption.