Wow, I just got a “golden ticket” to use WordPress.com. I signed up aaages ago when nobody really knew what WordPress.com was. Well, it’s a hosting site à la TypePad. Oh, and it’s free (so maybe more like a good version of Blogger, I guess). And it uses WordPress of course. So if you don’t already use WordPress there isn’t much excuse now!

It’s pretty impressive. The admin area is lovely. I assume this is a sneak preview of WordPress 1.6. It’s all looking great. There are plenty of good features to get your teeth sunk into. Just about everything you can think of apart from plugins and the ability to edit your theme. Still, there’s a nice little range of themes to choose from. There’s WYSIWYG editing, if that’s your sort of thing, and all sorts of drag-and-drop wonderfulness. There’s even a referrers section in it. It’s all easy peasy to use aswell.

Here’s what I set up with it. Of course, it’s not much use to me since I’ve already got this blog, but there you go!

Anyway, overall WordPress.com is pretty good if you’re into that sort of thing, and I’ve got an invitation to give away aswell. One was sold on eBay for $50 or something. Of course, like with Gmail, now that I’ve got one the supply must have skyrocketed (when I tried to sell Gmail accounts on eBay they sold for £1)!

Anyway, if you want that invite then leave a comment on this blog (or email me or something) with a really really good reason why you should have it. Then I’ll give it to the person who I think is coolest.

So Google Talk launched today. Well, I’m not sure about this. I know this is only day one, and I am sure that Google have loads more stuff up their sleeve. But part of me just keeps on thinking, is that it?

Sure, there are some quaint features. But it is basic. In that sense it’s typically Google — straight and to the point, with no stupid crap to dress it up. That means no nudges, winks, or any of the other deeply annoying stuff that comes with MSN Messenger. But it also means no avatars, no smilies even. Smilie text comes up in blue, which probably means something, but as far as I can tell it only means it comes up in blue for the moment. A plus point is that there are no adverts. Apparently Google Talk is about pushing Gmail rather than ads.

It’s also pretty lonely. This is the problem with messengers in general. Why bother downloading it if all your contacts are on MSN Messenger? My only contact on Google Talk at the moment is my brother, but I bet most of the time I’ll be using MSN to communicate with him online.

And even if I wanted to, persuading my friends to download Google Talk will be very tough. You need a Gmail account to use Google Talk. And it might be amazing to some people out there, but there are loads of people who have still never even heard of Gmail. Giving out my email address can sometimes be a right pain in the arse.

“What was that? Gee-mail? Gee-mail?” (And that’s after having got through all the ‘doctorvee’ nonsense…)

So what would I say to get people to use Google Talk? First of all I will get, “but MSN is just fine,” which is true (despite nudges and other crap like that). And even if I get past that stage I will have to explain the fact that they need a Gmail account at which point it will be, “nah, I don’t think I’ll bother.” And who can blame them? And Gmail is still invite-only! I even know one person who never (I really do mean never) checks his email (really, how do you manage without checking your email?!), so how would I be able to persuade him to get another email account?

The Gmail notifier on Google Talk is quite cool, but I had a perfectly fine Gmail notifier anyway.

The call feature might be something, but I have never had the desire to use Skype at all, and I don’t imagine using this feature much at all. The computer is in the hall, so about half of the house would probably be able to hear my conversations, which would probably be an inconvenience for everybody.

People are comparing this to Gmail for obvious reasons. This is Google taking quite a large step here. The problem is, Google Talk has nothing of note. Gmail had a gig of email (now over 2.5 gigs and rising) that got everybody excited, as well as the fact that it was clean and easy and all the rest of it. Apart from the fact that it’s clean and easy, what’s Google Talk got to excite anyone?

As I say though, this is only day one, so I’m not writing it off yet. It sounds like Google has way more up its sleeve here.

If anybody is interested, you can add me if you want a chat on Google Talk at the obvious address, doctorvee [at] gmail [dot] com (which, incidentally, is also the address I use for MSN!).

And if you want a Gmail invite, I’ve still got about 100 kicking around, so just let me know if you want one.

Has anybody else been having problems with Gmail in the past week or so? A lot of the time it seems to take an age to load up. What’s the point in having broadband if it takes so long just to check your email?