Google has finally opened Google Voice up to the public, and no longer requires users to have an invitation to use it. There are already over a million people using it, the company says, and that number is about to increase dramatically.

"We’re proud of the progress we’ve made with Google Voice over the last few years, and we’re still just scratching the surface of what’s possible when you combine your regular phone service with the latest web technology," Google says in the announcement. "It’s even more amazing to think about how far communication has come over the last couple hundred years."

Google has put together an interesting diagram looking at this evolution of communication:

Meanwhile, Google is being sued by Frontier Communications, who claims that Google Voice is infringing on its patent. Doug Caverly talks more about this here.