Give Us Google Voice, Online Petition Demands

After a recent leak showing a Google Voice desktop application in action, fans of Google's telecommunications service have started an online petition demanding Google release the app to the public. "We have asked, begged, and pleaded for a desktop VoIP application...This petition is brought forth to show you the overwhelming demand for such an application," the petition reads. At the time of this writing, the petition at giveusvdesktop.com, had more than 2,400 signatures with an ultimate goal of 500,000.

Google Voice is a free service that lets you unify multiple phone numbers such as your work, home and mobile lines into one number. If you receive a call, all your phones will ring at once, allowing you to pick up your call no matter which phone you're near. In June, Google made Voice available to all U.S.-based users after more than a year as an invitation-only preview.

The online petition asking Google to release the Google Voice desktop app was inspired by a TechCrunch video demonstrating a desktop telephony program called Gizmo5 by Google. The application takes its name from Gizmo5, an Internet-based telephony service for PCs and mobile devices, that Google acquired in late 2009. At the time of the acquisition many pundits believed Google purchased Gizmo5 to produce Google Voice software and with Internet-based telephony services like Skype.