Google is not only taking on rivals Yahoo, MSN, and AOL in the instant messaging space by combining internet telephony and IM in its new Google Talk service, but also challenging early market leader Skype in the telephony space. Media Metrix says AOL has more than 40 million users on its AIM and ICQ networks, Yahoo has 20 million users, and MSN Messenger has 14 million. Skype claims to have 51 million users worldwide.

Google is apparently banking on a more approach than those being taken by its rivals in its bid to asser itself into these two 21^st century communications markets. Google Talk is based on an open technology called Jabber, created to help different networks talk to each other. And Google is looking for megajabber. "We are going to try to be the first in the world to connect everyone to everyone," said Georges Harik, director of new products at Google, in making the company announcement.

Georges Harik

Google hasn’t completely opened the world just yet. The telephony is only open to Google Gmail users currently, and it’s not yet taking a fully open approach to its Jabber deployment.

Some reports have already indicated that it seems Google is on a path to offer a number of products and services that, in combination, can effectively serve as a modern-day, web-based operating system. Its search capability, for example, has evolved from handling simple keyword searches to being able to launch applications.

With search emerging as a key competitive battlefield, Google’s search-driven modern-day OS may be something that’s emulated. Will a Google browser someday emerge as well?