On a Further Note: Google Talk

I never thought I'd actually say this, but what about a Mac OSX Client?! Let me stress the fact that Google Talk is a JABBER based IM Client which means it would work with any JABBER client that already exists. You'd be able to login and chat, but you won't benefit from other features of the client. I was able to log on to the Google Jabber server using my existing Google username and password few hours before its launch. When checking my offline contacts using Google’s Jabber server, it lists email addresses I’ve emailed within the last few hours. How to setup Google IM on Jabber based clients?

1. Add an account, select "Jabber" as the protocol
2. Your screen name is everything before the "@gmail.com"
3. Server is "Gmail.com"
4. Click "Show more options" and make sure "use TLS if available" is checked.
5. Leave "Force old SSL" and "allow plaintext.." unchecked for now
6. Connection port should be 5222, connection server should be "talk.google.com"
7. Ta-Da! You're good to go

For a list of clients for other OS(s) go to: http://www.google.com/talk/otherclients.html