Sean Egan, Google Inc.’s latest high-profile hire, up until a few weeks ago was lead developer of software to simultaneously use multiple IM accounts.
But now he’s got some much bigger fish to fry, namely helping Google chart the future of Google Talk, the search giant’s instant messaging feature that for now stands in the shadows of IM pioneers America Online Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Microsoft Corp.’s online unit, The Microsoft Network.
GAIM, the software he developed, is still a big focus of his first few weeks at work, he wrote during a recent e-mail interview. For now, he says he’s focusing on a protocol (a special set of rules that end points in a telecommunication connection use when they communicate) that makes it possible for GAIM and its competitors, such as Trillian or Psi, to more easily allow for Internet-based phone calls, which most instant messaging software makes possible.
