The latest in a number of updates for Microsoft's Outlook.com service is the integration of Google Talk into the product's messaging functionality, complementing the existing intregration with Skype and Facebook. Microsoft say they added the feature are receiving feedback from users who had switch from Gmail to Outlook.com, but who still wanted to chat to their Google friends.

Google Talk integration will roll out to all Outlook.com accounts in the nest few days. When opening up the Messaging pane in Outlook.com you will be prompted to connect your Google account. This process will add your Google contacts to your Outlook.com contacts list (People), consolidating with existing contact information where necessary (i.e. matched contacts will be automatically linked).

Here the relevant extract from the Outlook Blog announcing the integration:

We believe people choose to use many different services and that our role is to help them connect to the people who matter most, wherever they are. You see this in the People experience, where you connect to your contact lists from Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and more.  And you can already chat with your Facebook and Skype friends. But we heard that some of you who switched over from Gmail still want to chat with friends stuck on Gmail. Today, we're excited to announce that you can now also chat with your Google friends. With this feature, the next time you're reading an email from someone who uses Gmail, you can reply with a quick chat right from your Outlook.com inbox. And if you're working together on an Office document in SkyDrive, you can send an instant message to a Google contact with just a click. We're rolling out Google chat integration now, so look for it in your inbox over the next couple of days.

The integration also works with SkyDrive, meaning that it is possible to be collaborating with someone on a document, and be chatting to them at the same time, without having to leave SkyDrive (i.e. seamless integration).

The integration with Google Chat does not apply to Windows Phone, but given that the platform already has Facebook chat integration and partial integration with Skype, it's not hard to see that the functionality might be added a future update, as part of a consolidation of Messaging functionality (something that feels over due). It would be the logical extension of the service aganostic approach that Microsoft is already taking with contact information and status information in the People Hub.

This service agnostic approach is part of a wider Microsoft strategy, and is described in the Outlook.com Blog post as "bringing all your people together":

We respect the fact that you use many different services and have invested a great deal of time and effort in building those contact lists, and so we believe the best approach is to help you to connect to the services you already use.

Once your services are connected, you can see all of your contacts together in one place. And since you are often connected to a person through more than one service, we automatically match up contacts that are the same and link them together. Of course, you can also link any contacts we missed or unlink any contacts that don't belong together.

The result is an uncluttered contact list full of people you really know. At a glance, you can see a quick summary of a contact with information from across all those networks.  And you're just one click away from common tasks like sending an email, calling a number, mapping an address, or starting a chat, on any of the services you've connected!