Google is rolling out video and voice capabilities for the chat function (->gmail.com/videochat) that is embedded in the Gmail interface. It's a bare-bones voice and video-conferencing service, but it's simple to install and use and is a very good addition to Gmail. Both video and voice chat needs a plug-in. The plug-in requires an Intel-based computer running Mac OS X or a computer running Windows XP or Vista, a Webcam, and/or a microphone. It works with browsers that support the current version of Gmail: Chrome, Firefox 2.0+, Internet Explorer 7.0, and Safari 3.0. No support for a Linux based plug-in as of yet.

I found a demo of voice and video quality on the service excellent, although to be fair I was connected from CNET's corporate network to someone at the Google campus. I do expect Gmail Video quality to be a bit more consistent than Skype, since unlike the point-to-point architecture of Skype, Gmail Video traffic all runs through Google servers. I expect that Google has the bandwidth and server capacity needed. But the service was a resource hog on my 2-year-old computer; it used up all my available CPU resources and made other apps slow to respond. I've had better luck with Skype. Newer computers would probably not have this problem. Unlike many current video chat products, Gmail Video and Voice uses a proprietary plug-in, not Flash. The small (2MB) download supports Firefox, IE, and Chrome on the PC, and Firefox on the Mac. Support for other browsers and platforms (Linux and mobile) may come later.

Gmail Video and Voice will be made available to all Gmail users starting Tuesday at noon PST. Global rollout should be complete by the end of the day. To see if you have it, open a chat with someone (you don't actually have to message them). If your account is video-enabled, at the lower left of the chat window, there will be an interface element labeled "Video & more." When you click on that it will walk you through installing the plug-in. If you want to make a video call to someone who hasn't yet installed the plug-in, you'll be able to invite them to do so. (In my early test of the service, this feature wasn't yet enabled).