Google just announced Google Talk integration with Gmail. Although it is possible to save chat logs in other chat clients, this move makes it a whole lot easier. There is also a single sign on for both networks and integration with the Jabber network. Google's embrace of the open XMPP protocol rocks. All this might actually be enough for me to switch my chat clients. If I could only get everyone else to switch or if google could pressure AOL to support XMPP, instant messenging might actually enjoy interoperability.

Here's a bit from their blog:

At the start, I thought a lot about all the things that bother me about Chats. My own chats contained a lot of important information that was always getting lost. I found myself cutting, pasting and emailing important chats to myself so I could find them later. Another thing that bothered me is that whenever I wanted to get in touch with someone, I had to pick a specific application. For email, I'd have to sign into Gmail. For IM, I had to choose between the two or three programs I used regularly.