I remember back when Google Talk came out, long months ago, it was so excitedly championed. I stayed up late to talk to random geeks I met through Digg and the g-talk future looked very, very sweet.

Fast forward to later in the SAME WEEK:

Most everyone who had tried Google Talk thought it sucked needed work. Why release another IM client with the same (or less) features than the others already out there. How could Google compete with AIM, MSN, Yahoo, ICQ, Skype, and the new ones coming out daily? It seems now, most every company, no matter what they're selling has an IM client. What sets Google Talk apart?

How about direct integration with click-to-call ads? Maybe that's the model Google Talk was built for to begin with. Maybe, they released it to us as a crappy version of IM to:

1. Discourage it's use as an IM client by mainstream IM-ers
2. Throw us off the scent, so-to-speak, so we wouldn't gripe and complain about their heavy ads-focused web apps (see gmail, google base, google sidebar, google desktop, etc.)

Well, along those lines, ADS-click announced that it will be using Skype and Google Talk to deliver their click-to-call ads. We reported the skype connection earlier, but the Google part is new. In fact, the PR said:

ADS-click will also release a 100% VOIP Skype and Google Talk call center during first quarter 2006. It will feature full call center capabilities, such as operator settings, language management, call history and integration with Customer Relationships Management systems. This call center will allow big and small companies to provide customers with live sales, support and training using video, voice and text messaging.

They're using the Google Talk API to build this, so it's not necessarily a partnership per se, but still, it suggests Google Talk's initial reason for being might be click-to-call ads.

I'm ending this with the original Digg story on Google Talk's pre-release crack. The service came out the next day, but geeks got on a day early and that day, looking back, was pretty darn fun.

But, look at all that hype that was wasted! (read the comments for full effect) If Google Talk had been really good...