Google has an XMPP server up…

Details at Neowin and voice capability speculation at Om Malik’s. He theorizes that Skype is in trouble. More in a related NYTimes article, Where Does Google Plan to Spend $4 Billion?.

BTW, while Google Desktop has to be one of the most creepy apps I have ever witnessed (privacy invading potential), I’m going to use it at work. The combined gmail + outlook email preview is worth it alone.