Oh the drama! Gmail, Google's free mail provider is now offering free phone calls using VOIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) and it is doing so for FREE (Us / Canada) - at least through the end of the year. I can think of no other time when the saying (it is a saying, right?) "what a tangled web we weave..." can be be applied any better. The new Google Voice (Chat) feature being offered may literally kill Skype in on fell swoop. Google may take the entire VOIP market right out from under them and anyone else who gets in their way.

Essentially this move will be the beginning of something much larger and the aim of this is really quite amazing - Google is currently the provider for your email, web searches, blogs, shopping, and basically everything else internet related. They have now kicked it up a notch to become a provider of phone service as well - this is really big! They are literally assisting us with almost every facet of our lives  -  will Google become everyone's Big Brother? Maybe - and if so I think I will think of them as the cool older brother that buys you smokes, beer, and hookers. Maybe thats what they want me to think though. Dun-dun-dun!

I feel no remorse for Skype in this whole thing. Sure, they are basically dead in the water now - but they should have done this themselves a long time ago and made money through advertising instead of charging people directly; they could have even done the same thing, Google is currently, where they offer the service FREE for a limited time to get some excitement going. I am kind of wondering where this will all end up and who knows - maybe the VOIP market is big enough for two - although this is a real David and Goliath situation because Google is a household name that provides us with nearly everything while Skype is like a red headed step child who sings show tunes at the dinner table - you really want to just beat them, lovingly of course.

I say get your free call on while you can - you can call (US and Canada) cell phones, landlines, or other subscribers free of charge for the time being - and free is free!

Read all about what is going on at the Gmail blog and TechCrunch for additional information.