The rumor mill has been working over time these last few days with the possibility that Google might release their own instant messaging (IM) application. Well, the suspense has come to an end tonight with the release of Google Talk to the public.

The Google client is Windows only but you can access the service with any IM client that supports the Jabber/XMPP protocol. There are a couple of things that I like right off the bat, one of them being the tight integration it has with Gmail and combining VOIP and IM into one single application. Neither one of these are new but neither was webmail before Gmail came along, so we’ll see what Google has up its IM sleeve. A few things I found of interest:

• Your Gmail contacts are pre-loaded into Google Talk. Your most frequently-emailed contacts are at the top of your Friends list.
• Because Google Talk requires a Gmail username and password, if you’re not inviting someone at their Gmail address, we will also include an invitation to open a Gmail account.
• You can have multiple calls underway at once–but only one can be active at a time. The other calls must be on hold.

Everyone will be talking about this application tomorrow, so I will have to check out some of the reviews and opinions as they start flowing through. This reminds me that I need to go back and get our office IM server back up and running.