Google has just announced that it has integrated AIM into GMAIL. What does this mean? It means that from GMAIL, you can access and talk to your contacts on AIM from the side chat menu. This is pretty big news as it is I believe that first real integration between the IM companies (AOL, Yahoo, Microsoft, & Google). I mean there are the multiple protocol clients like Adium, Trillian, Pidgin, & even the web clients like Meebo.com, but never done before by the service company. I tried it out, and it runs just like Google Talk. With everything that Google has done to GMAIL lately, I'd be curious to see where else they go.

UPDATE: I also just happened to notice that the chat feature in GMAIL now works on Safari, which is great because Safari is my primary browser on my Mac and once the final version is released for Windows, it may very well become my primary brower there too.

Google Integrates AIM into GMAIL [macworld.com]

Tags: google, gmail, aim, links, news