Google gets happy-clappy with file transfer in talk widgets

Google has finally slotted peer-to-peer file transfers into its iGoogle and Orkut talk widgets.

Mountain View said it planned to - eventually - bring the long-awaited feature to Gmail too.

The file transfer addition means that users chatting in iGoogle and Orkut will no longer have to switch to email to send the file as an attachment.

"File transfer works directly in the browser so you don't need to install anything. Just start a conversation with a friend and click 'Send a file...' in the 'Actions' menu. After you select a file, your friend will be asked if they want to accept the transfer," said Google software engineer Bruce Leban in a blog post yesterday.

Google's decision to bolt file transfer on to its Talk widgets will be welcomed by many frustrated with Gmail's current attachment limit, which forces anyone wanting to send huge files to use a separate file-sharing service.

The ad broker did not reveal when Gmail will come loaded with the feature, however. ®

Correction: This story originally got its FTP knickers in a twist and wrongly linked protocol RFC959 used in Google's Blogger with the file transfer system it uses for the chat clients. That connection has now been removed from the story.