2005年NPR美国国家公共电台九月-Google's New Message Service Includes Voi（在线收听） |
| From NPR news, this is all things considered. I am Robert Siegel, and I am Melissa Block. We are going to begin today with news about GOOGLE. The search engine company has launched a new instant messaging and voice communication service. Until now AOL, Microsoft and Yahoo have dominated that part of the computer landscape. We’ll hear about what Google’s move means for the larger world of technology and communications in a few minutes. First here is NPR’s N.L. If you are one of the 80 million or so Americans who use instant messaging services, you're probably used to electronic pizzicato punctuating your work or play online. Today a new tone joined the chorus. That’s the sound of Google Talk. Google has now officially joined the ranks of services that allow people to chat on line and speak to each other through their computers with microphones, analyst Benjamin Schachter says none of this is groundbreaking. What you see with Google Talk today is essentially a "me-too" product , But I think as they’ve done in the past, they sort of launched these beta versions of me-too product may continue to innovate on top of those. So I think what you're seeing today is really just the first step in what they hope to be a much more innovated service over time. Schachter works for UBS investment research which includes Google as a client. George Harlot works for Google. He’s a director of product management and he says for now the company is keeping things simple. The Interface is pretty austere in the typical Google manner so there’s not a lot of clutter on the page, there's just you see your status you see your friends, you can click to chat with them then click a button to call them, there’s no ads on the interface , there’s nothing, you know, flashes or beams, there isn't anything that would get in the way of what you want to do. It is in a word discreet, that’s handy for those who "I am at work". But Google talk is aiming for something even handier, interoperability, George Herrick. Our aim is to make one IM network, and make it like the E-mail system or like the phone system where anyone can call. Some instant messaging systems already allow access to other systems, Michael Oscar runs a market research firm that specializes in technology. He says if he succeeds, Google Talk will create its own momentum. It’s a sense of gravity if you will. The more clients that an IM system has in use, the more likely it is to attract new people, because, simply because of the greater likelihood that the people you want to contact are gonna be on that system. Oscar says the company is taking steps to guarantee users’ privacy and taking chances such as using open source technology, to ingratiate itself both with critics and casual internet users alike. pizzicato n. 指弹 |
| 原文地址：http://www.tingroom.com/lesson/NPR2005/40622.html |