skype v Google Talk
In yesterday's Metro there was a big focus on skype. I've seen a lot of hype surrounding skype now filtering its way through the mass media, everywhere and anywhere, and in my field of work I'm seeing things like internet phones being marketed based on their compatibility with skype. And yet for those in the know skype is old hat, hell I knew about skype ages ago and I'm hardly very tech-savvy (this site's design is proof of that!). I'm sure even Google Talk, my personal fave right now, has been relegated into the same category by the real whizzkids who probably have some new, relatively unknown, piece of software, that is to both skype and Google Talk, what pissing in a flushing toilet is to relieving yourself in the woods.
Where to start? Well I might as well begin with the product that's getting all the rave reviews in the mainstream media. Skype is rather pants. No, scratch that, skype just is pants. The quality might be better than predecessors like Teamspeak (which is still the daddy when it comes to hosting a conversation between massive groups) but compared to Google Talk, which is still in beta, it's nothing.
I'd been using skype for ages when I first tried Google Talk and I was amazed by the difference, the clarity on both is excellent, but skype suffered a lot more from being "blurred" by background noise. There was a certain sharpness missing from it that the Google product has in spades. Whilst the sound quality on skype is comparable to a standard telephone, the gmail-based software is actually an improvement on standard telephony. Skype makes you feel like you're in the same street as the person you're speaking to; Google Talk puts you right next to them.
And then there's the design. Skype isn't intuitively designed, it's cumbersome, and whilst not difficult to use, and easily customised to make it more user-friendly, it just lacks the sheer accessibility of Google Talk. The latter is far more "tuned in" to what most users want. When you click on a contact in Google Talk it automatically opens an IM window, whereas Skype goes for the call. This can be modified in the options but in truth, if the Google product comes like that "out of the box" why use the inferior one? And that's just one example of many interface design flaws in skype. It's like this; if you can get one free night with either a cheap, STD-riddled street corner prostitute or a high class, absolutely stunning, model-esque escort, which would you pick? It's not like it costs you any extra...
There are other design issues too. Skype looks like it's been put together by a 5 year-old (maybe it has!), and as we'd expect from the boys at Google, G-Talk (as some now call it) looks a far more polished piece of software. I'm not ashamed to have it on my desktop as I was with skype, which looked like a toy. And whilst this might sound silly, the ringing on Skype is annoying and shrill, sounding more like a telephone receiver from the 70s (you know the ones, before touchtone phones?) than a sophisticated piece of Internet telephony. The ringing on Google Talk is by far more preferable, much more in keeping with a cutting-edge piece of software.
Now some might see the fact that Google's product is based on users with gmail addresses as a problem, but I think it's quite the opposite. When you IM someone there's an option to call and an option to directly email them, which just adds to the whole "convenience" argument I put forward earlier. Integrating the software with gmail was a genius idea, not a flaw. Let's face it, whilst gmail (or Google Mail as it's now called in the UK) is still technically in beta, and invite-only, who doesn't have a gmail account? True, at the moment Google Talk is only PC to PC, whereas skype allows calls to telephones too, but I think it's only a matter of time before Google Talk is extended out into the full reaches of internet telephony.
All in all, whilst Google Talk can obviously be improved (proper smileys in the IM system and PC-to-telephone calls being the main two I can think of) it's still in the much earlier stages of its development. The signal indicators (like you get on your mobile) are a great help and allow you to quickly troubleshoot anything that's causing problems. Everything else listed above puts Google Talk on a level above Skype, and that's with a product that's still virtually embryonic.
As always Google comes out on top. Whatever the Google boys put their minds to tends to be a winner. Google came into the search engine market and blew away Yahoo! They entered the webmail market and blew away Hotmail. Now they've entered the Internet telephone market and skype have been warned...
Where to start? Well I might as well begin with the product that's getting all the rave reviews in the mainstream media. Skype is rather pants. No, scratch that, skype just is pants. The quality might be better than predecessors like Teamspeak (which is still the daddy when it comes to hosting a conversation between massive groups) but compared to Google Talk, which is still in beta, it's nothing.
I'd been using skype for ages when I first tried Google Talk and I was amazed by the difference, the clarity on both is excellent, but skype suffered a lot more from being "blurred" by background noise. There was a certain sharpness missing from it that the Google product has in spades. Whilst the sound quality on skype is comparable to a standard telephone, the gmail-based software is actually an improvement on standard telephony. Skype makes you feel like you're in the same street as the person you're speaking to; Google Talk puts you right next to them.
And then there's the design. Skype isn't intuitively designed, it's cumbersome, and whilst not difficult to use, and easily customised to make it more user-friendly, it just lacks the sheer accessibility of Google Talk. The latter is far more "tuned in" to what most users want. When you click on a contact in Google Talk it automatically opens an IM window, whereas Skype goes for the call. This can be modified in the options but in truth, if the Google product comes like that "out of the box" why use the inferior one? And that's just one example of many interface design flaws in skype. It's like this; if you can get one free night with either a cheap, STD-riddled street corner prostitute or a high class, absolutely stunning, model-esque escort, which would you pick? It's not like it costs you any extra...
There are other design issues too. Skype looks like it's been put together by a 5 year-old (maybe it has!), and as we'd expect from the boys at Google, G-Talk (as some now call it) looks a far more polished piece of software. I'm not ashamed to have it on my desktop as I was with skype, which looked like a toy. And whilst this might sound silly, the ringing on Skype is annoying and shrill, sounding more like a telephone receiver from the 70s (you know the ones, before touchtone phones?) than a sophisticated piece of Internet telephony. The ringing on Google Talk is by far more preferable, much more in keeping with a cutting-edge piece of software.
Now some might see the fact that Google's product is based on users with gmail addresses as a problem, but I think it's quite the opposite. When you IM someone there's an option to call and an option to directly email them, which just adds to the whole "convenience" argument I put forward earlier. Integrating the software with gmail was a genius idea, not a flaw. Let's face it, whilst gmail (or Google Mail as it's now called in the UK) is still technically in beta, and invite-only, who doesn't have a gmail account? True, at the moment Google Talk is only PC to PC, whereas skype allows calls to telephones too, but I think it's only a matter of time before Google Talk is extended out into the full reaches of internet telephony.
All in all, whilst Google Talk can obviously be improved (proper smileys in the IM system and PC-to-telephone calls being the main two I can think of) it's still in the much earlier stages of its development. The signal indicators (like you get on your mobile) are a great help and allow you to quickly troubleshoot anything that's causing problems. Everything else listed above puts Google Talk on a level above Skype, and that's with a product that's still virtually embryonic.
As always Google comes out on top. Whatever the Google boys put their minds to tends to be a winner. Google came into the search engine market and blew away Yahoo! They entered the webmail market and blew away Hotmail. Now they've entered the Internet telephone market and skype have been warned...
posted by Jesus Of Suburbia at 22:42
2 Comments:
Just use a damn telephone. Skype and Google Talk are just going to require me to shell out cash for a microphone. The rotten bastards.
Besides, software like Teamspeak require the phrase "YOU FUCKING N00B!!" to be used once every thirty seconds or you'll be kicked off.
Do you realise how expensive it is to call cross-Atlantic or to call Australia from the UK?
Of course I don't think that currently either piece of software will replace a telephone for local calls.
You should already have a microphone, you luddite! I even have a headset because it's better value than headphones and a microphone seperately.
Do you realise how cheap an internet telephone is these days? You can get a telephone that'll plug into your USB port that's as cheap as any standard telephone on the market so why not? Welcome to the 21st century chief.
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