Gmail Chat

I learned a few weeks ago — while listening to Security Now!, I believe — that you can get Gmail over a secure connection simply by replacing “http” in your browser’s location bar with “https.” I did it, it works, I changed my bookmarks.

As I write this post, Gmail’s new Quick Contacts UI enhancement does not show up over the secure connection. The Quick Contacts features a Chat button for all users, and it’s grayed out for everybody on my list (but that might just be because no one else has hooked it up on their systems).

Because the chat buttons were all grayed out, I thought that maybe you need Google Talk installed to use Gmail Chat. I installed it, but Gmail Chat didn’t light up or anything.
I’m curious about a few things:

  1. Is Google Talk required to use Gmail Chat?
  2. Is the new Quick Contacts feature permanently absent over the secure connection? Or will it be there, too, within a few hours/days?
  3. Why roll out the Quick Contacts if there’s still backend stuff pending?
Gmail Chat

One thought on “Gmail Chat

  1. As I informed Lewis today during a Gmail Chat conversation with him, yesterday the Gmail logo in my Gmail inbox said “Gmail Chat,” and today it says “Gmail Talk.”

    WTF?

    Also, does it look like the logo is less flat now? As if it looks more 3D?

Comments are closed.