Google adds AIM capabilities to Gmail chat

Google said Tuesday that it had added interoperability with AIM into its GTalk client within Gmail, allowing users to login to their AIM accounts from within the client.

While the feature would allow Web-based access into AOL's service, the feature has not yet made it into the desktop client. All features native to the Gmail version of the chat client, such as chat history and and automatic sorting of buddies based on how often the user communicates with them would work for AIM contacts as well.

"This is rolling out in the newest English version of Gmail today and will be available in other languages soon," senior product manager Mike Jazayeri said. Not everything may be peachy just yet -- tests by BetaNews of the feature showed it still was experiencing problems, however eventually our client did manage to log into AIM.