Google Talk, also known as GTalk, is a Windows and web-based application for voice over internet (VOIP) and instant messaging, offered by Google Inc. It was released on August 24, 2005. It uses an open protocol, XMPP, allowing users of other XMPP clients to communicate with Google Talk users. VoIP in Google Talk is based around the Jingle protocol.  Many other XMPP clients are compatible with Google Talk, and support a variety of other platforms.

MSN Messenger is a freeware instant messaging client.it currently ranks 2 after AIM/ICQ. It was developed by Microsoft in July 1999. It was renamed Windows Live Messenger in February 2006 as part of Microsoft's Windows Live series of online services and software. MSN Messenger is often used to refer to the .NET Messenger Service (the protocols and server that allow the system to operate) rather than any particular client.

Comparison chart

Google Talk versus MSN Messenger comparison chart
Edit this comparison chartGoogle TalkMSN Messenger
  • current rating is 3.51/5
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(65 ratings)
  • current rating is 3.53/5
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(70 ratings)
Google TalkMSN Messenger
Latest version available 1.0.0.104 (January 1, 2007) 8.5.1302 (Windows XP/Vista),1.0.6141 (Windows Live for Nokia S60)
Toolkits or SDKs W32 W32
File transfer Yes Yes
Message logging Yes Yes
Offline messaging Yes Yes
Cost Free Free ad-supported
Licence Clickwrap licence Clickwrap licence
Scripting No Yes
Remote desktop application assistance No Yes
Whiteboard No Yes
Handwriting mode No Yes
Spellcheck No No
Plugin system No Yes
Dockable Yes no
User defined graphical smileys No Yes
Animation No Yes called animoticons
Available in languages English, German, French, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Dutch, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Chinese(simplified and traditional), Spanish English, Portuguese, hindi, punjabi,french, chinese,tamil, telugu,gujarati, russian, danish ,irish, french, etc
Emoticons Yes (partial support) Yes
Author/Creator Google Inc. Microsoft Corp.
Operating systems supported GTalk (standlone) - Windows, Blackberry GTalk (Gmail) - Windows, Linux, Unix, BSD,Mac OS X,Windows Mobile Windows, Windows Mobile, S60 on Symbian OS
Operating systems not supported GTalk Standalone app - Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, UNIX Blackberry, Mac OS X, Linux, BSD, UNIX
Encryption No No
Built-in games No Yes
Third party add-ons Yes Yes
Unicode (UTF-8) Yes Yes
Voice messaging and Mail Yes Yes
Web cam Support Third party add-on Yes
Themes / skins Yes Yes
Multi-account support No Yes (with Yahoo! IDs)

About the Author

Nick Jasuja

Nick Jasuja has over 15 years of technology industry experience, including at Amazon in Seattle. He is an expert at building websites, developing software programs in PHP and JavaScript, maintaining MySQL and PostgreSQL databases, and running Linux servers for serving high-traffic websites. He has a bachelor's degree in Computer Science & Engineering.

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