Outlook.com now lets you chat with your Google friends

This is interesting. Outlook.com users will now be able to chat with their Google friends from within the webmail service.

Since launching its revamped email service in mid-2012, Microsoft has done a number of things to try to get people to make the switch from Gmail. These include baking Skype-functionality into it, the ability to chat with your Facebook friends and an Android app (talk about going into the heart of the enemy’s territory).

When you open the Messaging pane in Outlook.com or SkyDrive, you’ll see a message that helps you set up chat with your Google contacts. As part of setting up the connection, you’ll see Google’s authorization flow. This is how Google helps you control which services can access your Google information. Clicking “Allow access” will allow Microsoft’s chat and contacts services to connect to Google and set up chat. You’re apparently in control of this connection and can change it at any time.

From there, says Microsoft, your Google contacts appear in your contact list. Click on their picture to start a conversation with someone or search for any of your Google contacts right from the Messaging pane.

According to Microsoft, the messaging experience works across your Outlook.com inbox, calendar and People contact list, as well as SkyDrive.com. If you’re working together on a document with a Google friend, you can be chatting with them at the same time without leaving SkyDrive.

While the move may provide an incentive for some to make the switch, it takes away the biggest incentive of all for mass migration from one platform to another. People don’t leave services because it’s convenient for them to carry on communicating with other people on the services. They leave them because they’re tired of that service, or because the vast majority of their friends have moved onto the next platform. Microsoft’s gamble will only work if Outlook.com proves a good enough product that people want to stay on it and encourage their friends to make the move.

It has made at least one move in the right direction in that regard by centralising your contacts. Microsoft also claims that it automatically matches up contacts that are the same and links them together. It’s the same model as most people are used to on their smartphones most should find it more convenient.

Google chat integration is set to start rolling out in the next few days, although Microsoft does warn that there could be a few minor glitches before it’s fully functional.