Google's Chat feature, built into their webmail service,
Gmail, has already become the favorite choice of most casual online chatters. But as of this week, now that they've added their super-simple video chat function, its reign is all but uncontested. There's no client to run, no second account to sign up for, and no fee for using it. You just turn it on when you're chatting with a video-enabled friend. That's it.
Video chat does require a one-time
download and setup of a Google browser extension. Oh, and if you're on a Mac PowerPC, bad news... maybe we'll see you next revision. It's currently available for Windows and select Macs (here in the office, we've successfully tested it with Windows Vista, Windows XP, and an iMac running OS X). The video and sound are clear, quick, and very nearly in sync, which is a far cry from the video chat we remember using in the early 21st century.
Gone are the days of jumpy video and Microsoft NetMeeting; numbered are the days of Skype. All hail free video chat!