andthennothing.net

Google is one of those companies that gets immidiate attention for every little move they make. They are praised even if something they’ve done is not that innovative. Sometimes it gets a bit tiresome, but mostly Google rumors are quite entertaining.

But there is a rumor that I hope is true, Google Talk, which is supposed to be a IM client with VoIP capabilities scheduled for release tomorrow. The one thing that makes this sound like a good thing to me is that it’s supposed to be Jabber based. If anyone besides the established IM companies can push Jabber into the mainstream it’s Google.

I think:

• there will be a web based (searchable) archive (perhaps part of Gmail)
• the feature set from Hello will be migrated over time (and Hello will be discontinued)
• the client will not have ads, but the (web) archive will almost certainly have ads
• it will have VoIP (as reported all over the place) with the ability to call normal phones in the future
• it will work behind NATs without any configuration
• it will work with the other IM networks (through transports)
• entertainment features (avatars, games etc) will be very limited from the beginning (but they are very much needed in the long run for mainstream adoption)
• RSS will be included in some form (so will a Blogger client)
• location will play some part
• video chat will take a while

I hope:

• it will play nice with other Jabber servers/clients
• any extensions to Jabber are open
• it ends the trend of only supporting Windows

I’m not sure what the killer feature(s) will be. You cannot start a IM service nowadays without something special. VoIP isn’t it, since everyone and their dog already have VoIP. A web based archive can be one part (I’m using IM from different computers so my logs are spread all over the place), and ad free client another. But neither of those are enough to start a migration from AIM, MSN, and Skype.

Let the IM war begin!

I very rarely read books, which is a shame since I like doing it, but during the summer I always try to read at least one novel. This time I ended up reading the science fiction novel Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Maria recommended it one and a half years ago, I ordered it a few weeks ago and it took almost a week to read (with a few abruptions and days off).

Reviews of books and movies are not part of my skill set (and you can currently find 444 reviews over at Amazon), but at least I can recommend it :-). It’s cyberpunk with a dystopian future where franchises rule the world. There are some nice action scenes with pizza delivery, skateboarding++, motorcycles, and sword fighting. Parts of the book happens inside what the internets have morphed into, the Metaverse, a virutal reality world quite similar to Second Life (which was brought to my attention by some podcasts on IT Conversations and I have yet to try it out, but basically the users can program/create things, retain the ownership and can sell them). There is also quite a lot of history and religion thrown into the mix.

I found some passages quite hard to read due to what Wikipedia describes as “many arcane references to geography, politics, anthropology, philosophy, linguistics, history, and computer science”, and when I started reading after taking longer pauses it took a while to get going again — but I account that to my lack of experience reading English novels. Except for those problems, it was a really captivating, interesting, exciting and entertaining book.

So go read it if you like books like it! :-)

I’m not a gamer. Not that there’s anything wrong with it, it’s just not my thing. I play computer games perhaps one or two times a year. But lately I’ve been bitten by the WoW bug. The last two weeks (I think) there has been an open beta testing phase. And I got an account in order to try it out, for free. And I’m amazed over how good a game it is, especially the social parts of the game. When you get stuck with a quest, you just hook up with some other guys doiung the same quest. It is so much easier when you cooperate with a few people. And then you stick together for a couple of quests, until you have to go to bed (or more correctly, a few hours after you had to go to bed).

Two examples from the game. One time this Danish guy came up to me and challenged me for a duel. I didn’t know what a duel meant in the game, but I accepted, and was beaten rather quickly. And then he asks if I wanted armour, and sure I’d like some armour, so he goes away looking for copper mines, mines some copper, smelts the copper and smiths some armour. I guess it took up to an hour, and he didn’t want anything in return. Oh, and this other Hungarian guy, with whom I played for a couple of quests in the beginning. And then a couple of days later he comes up to me and gives me one gold coin (which is a lot) and some other stuff. Without wanting anything in return. That amazes me. Not that people do stuff for others without wanting anything in return, that happens once in a while in the real world as well. But to spend a lot of time to help a virtual character, played by someone you never met. That makes me think that the guys behind WoW has done at least something right.

So today I ordered the retail version of WoW, since the beta ended. I didn’t think a while ago that I would buy a game. Unfortunately my laptop is not a gaming station. Perhaps I will buy some more RAM, to make it lagg less in the cities. So now it’s time to do all the other stuff that have been put on hold. At least until Friday when I hopefully get the retail version. And start from the beginning.