GoogleTalk: Google goes head-to-head with Microsoft?

This morning Google activated the GoogleTalk feature in GMail. Now one can send e-mails and chat with people all from the same page.

This sounds familiar somehow... oh ya, MSN's Web Messanger & Hotmail combo.

So how is this different? Well, for one, we know that GMail is already superior to Hotmail in many ways (please, I don't want to go into this one). Furthermore, GoogleTalk has some big advantages over MSN, mainly the fact that it uses the Jabber protocol, which means that it works with many different messaging clients. Google doesn't even need to make GoogleTalk cross-platform; it already is.

This brings up a fundamental question; is Google really going head-to-head with Microsoft? It is obvious that they have been compatitors for a while, but is Google actually trying to match Microsoft or at least MSN service-for-service? With the rumors of a Google Browser or even a Google OS floating around, this doesn't seem so unlikely.

Is this a good thing? It depends on how Microsoft responds, and how long Google can maintain their open, users-come-first approach. If Microsoft responds by improving their products, great! But there is also the danger of a full-out war between the two giants, which could lead to some nasty unethical tactics (from both sides).

I guess we'll just wait and see.