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Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

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Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#251

Post by int_19h »

techntoke wrote: post #205
jermaustin1 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person who uses the Hangouts chrome app daily, I have been expecting a day when I go to launch it and it wont open for the last 3 years. Google doesn't want to support "Classic Hangouts" anymore (and supposedly they killed it in October for GSuite, but not for my domain, I guess). Hangouts is one of the only ways I privately communicate with old friends and past co-workers since EVERYONE has at least one gmail a…

Duo is their future replacement and works fine on the desktop.

Duo is about video calling specifically, no? Hangouts is a generic IM client.

I'm on Google Fi, and one major feature of Fi is that it lets you receive texts and calls to your phone number on your desktop, and access voicemail there. But it's all done via Hangouts now, and Google has been very vague on what the replacement is going to be going forward.

Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#252

Post by criddell »

spankalee wrote: post #184
wazoox wrote: post #13

Typical Google move. I have a Chromebook. It was listed on the models that would support Android app, this support never came (it's still "planned", 2 years later...). Support for Linux apps didn't come, either. So now I suppose my Chromebook will be soon a useless brick. Thanks, Google. Got the message, I'll never use any product with your badge again.

How in the world would it be a brick if you move some proprietary Chrome apps to PWAs?

How difficult is it to make that move?

If it's not trivial I wonder if there are many apps that will never make the move.

Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#253

Post by jdminhbg »

ajross wrote: post #220
andybak wrote: post #181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> But this: "typical Google cancelling a product" is still an important message. But it's one that appears with such regularity in HN comments that it drowns out all other discussion. I've frequently seen otherwise interesting posts related to Google derailed into yet another pile on - or even worse full of people that think they are being witty by posting "how soon before it's cancelled?"

> But it's one that appears with such regularity in HN comments that it drowns out all other discussion. See, for example, the second ranked subthread in this very story, from a user who apparently thinks this change is going to brick all Chromebooks; and the flood of responses talking about things like refund policy drowning out the tiny handful of comments pointing out that this the premise was a complete misunders…

> HN can't rationally talk about Google any more. It's kind of depressing.

Unfortunately, it's not the only company where threads turn into this. Every Apple product thread is about removing the headphone jack (still), every Amazon thread is about counterfeit products someone bought. There are others.

Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#254

Post by int_19h »

untog wrote: post #116
ancarda wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Just the other day I met a guy who told me he wouldn't consider learning and using Go because Google will cancel it eventually What a reputation issue they're developing. Even if their tech is pretty good, there's a growing number of people who won't even consider it (myself included)

That doesn't really make sense, though. Go is entirely open source. If Google dropped it tomorrow there are more than enough non-Google people invested in it to continue development.

It would continue development, but how popular would it remain without Google blessing?

Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#255

Post by tyingq »

criddell wrote: post #250
techntoke wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A local web server is something that can easily be setup on desktop and mobile outside of Chrome.

Didn't Microsoft block connections to servers running on localhost through http?

It can also listen on the actual network interface.

Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#256

Post by summerlight »

techntoke wrote: post #205
jermaustin1 wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As a person who uses the Hangouts chrome app daily, I have been expecting a day when I go to launch it and it wont open for the last 3 years. Google doesn't want to support "Classic Hangouts" anymore (and supposedly they killed it in October for GSuite, but not for my domain, I guess). Hangouts is one of the only ways I privately communicate with old friends and past co-workers since EVERYONE has at least one gmail a…

Duo is their future replacement and works fine on the desktop.

I believe Google wants to release Hangouts Chat to general consumers and replace Classic Hangouts.

Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#257

Post by tracker1 »

tyingq wrote: post #241
geofft wrote: post #219

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unsure, but I think if you have an extension, you can make the request in an extension page, which isn't CORS-restricted. (I don't totally understand the difference between a Chrome app and an extension that turns itself into a PWA, both are browser-specific and both are distributed through the Chrome web store, right?)

A chrome app has access to normal sockets, local filesystem, etc.

Not sure how they'll handle this... given the risk of losing a local db store's data in chrome, I'm hoping they normalize on something.

Ideally, a directory for access/storage enough to use SQLite as via WebAssembly should be available to plugins with a request/approval for read (and optionally write) access ... to me, that should be a goal of any file system interface presented via WebAssembly, is the option for something that at least supports that use case.

Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#258

Post by tracker1 »

lmedinas wrote: post #245
crazygringo wrote: post #92

First of all, this was announced more than 3 years ago, and it still won't happen for another 2.5 years. Second of all, this should be treated as good news for the HN crowd: Google is transitioning from a proprietary, Chrome-only app model to the open-standard, PWA model. Who doesn't support that? There are a bunch of "typical Google cancelling a product" comments here. But for real, I simply cannot imagine any Chrom…

besides Chrome Remote Desktop i cannot think about any other useful Chrome app.

There were SSH and RDP (windows RDP protocol) apps when I used a chromebook that were pretty decent (getting the private key in the SSH client on the chromebook was, well, interesting).

Not sure of others.

Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#259

Post by techntoke »

int_19h wrote: post #251
techntoke wrote: post #205

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Duo is their future replacement and works fine on the desktop.

Duo is about video calling specifically, no? Hangouts is a generic IM client. I'm on Google Fi, and one major feature of Fi is that it lets you receive texts and calls to your phone number on your desktop, and access voicemail there. But it's all done via Hangouts now, and Google has been very vague on what the replacement is going to be going forward.

They have reverted back to Google Voice for this and I'm pretty sure it'll be the replacement.

Re: Google is finally killing off Chrome apps, which nobody really used

#260

Post by techntoke »

z3t4 wrote: post #217
techntoke wrote: post #206

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A local web server is something that can easily be setup on desktop and mobile outside of Chrome.

How would you do that on a chromebook or without the user installing stuff?

Install an Android app or use Linux in ChromeOS.
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