Applelinks has some “interesting news related to the new Google Talk and SIPphone”:http://www.applelinks.com/p5/index.php/more/shareware_beat32/#3 (a company with a product similar to Skype only based on the open SIP protocol).

bq. SIPphone has also agreed to expand their network by linking with the newly launched Google Talk network. Gizmo Project and Google Talk users will be able to exchange instant messages and voice calls among each other in future versions. “Our goal is to link the entire world into one giant free dialing directory and joining forces with Google is a great step in that direction,” said SIPphone CEO Michael Robertson. “Gizmo Project users can now call more than two dozen voice networks and 150,000 University phones using GUPS, which makes us the largest SIP based network in the world.”

This is especially good news for Macintosh Users since there is already a free downloadable “SIP”:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Session_Initiation_Protocol client available at “gizmoproject.com”:http://www.gizmoproject.com/.

I think a Google/SIPphone combination is going to be a pretty serious competitor for “Skype”:http://skype.com since their approach is based on a non-proprietary standard. I found a post with some “good comparsion information”:http://www.randomthink.net/archives/2005/07/08/skype-vs-gizmo-project/ between the two services at “randomthink.net”:http://www.randomthink.net.