Google seems to be giving GMail quite a push these days isn’t it? First we had the additional storage, then the rollout of IMAP, then a new interface, and now possibly the ability to chat with friends on multiple IM networks using the Jabber Transports feature.

Ionut Alex Chitu over at Google System, while looking through the GMail code found stuff that was related to features not released as yet, which includes,

• Colors for Labels
• Detaching Messages from a Conversation
• And the ability to connect to multiple IM Networks like Yahoo, MSN, AIM etc…

I have been using Pidgin as my primary IM Client for almost an year now, simply because I couldn’t use GTalk to connect to my friends on Yahoo, MSN etc.. but if Google decides to implement Jabber Transports into GTalk, I would straightaway start using GTalk. If you are wondering what Jabber Transports is all about, then here is what Wikipedia has to say :

One of the things people like about Jabber is that you can communicate with users of legacy IM services like AIM, MSN, ICQ, and Yahoo. Unlike all-in-one IM clients like Trillian, what makes this possible in Jabber is a piece of software called a gateway (or "transport"), which runs in conjunction with a Jabber server such as jabber.org.

Another hint at the arrival of Jabber Transports in GTalk is ofcourse the new contacts manager that allows you to add details for multiple IM networks in your contacts. (See Screenshot)

I have got the new version of GMail and I am still testing it. So far its been good, baring a few bugs here and there, for which I am trying to find a solution. I really hope that Jabber Transports is implemented, because that will give GMail users a lot of advantage compared to Yahoo, MSN and others.

What else do you want to see in GMail 2.0??

Via Google System