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Google Splits Hangouts into Chat and Meet

techcrunch.com

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Re: Google Splits Hangouts into Chat and Meet

#61

Post by joshwd »

benballjr wrote: post #56
joshwd wrote: post #6

Oh yay, more chat apps from Google. I had finally hit a nice point of integration: using Hangouts with Project Fi means I got somewhat close to the iMessage experience (at least as far as being able to send/receive SMS from my computer). Clearly the integration wasn't great, and the Hangouts app is badly in need of work, but it's a shame to see that even that limited functionality is going away in favor of more fragm…

Can you elaborate on Hangouts + Project Fi? I'm also on Fi, and want the iMessage type experience, but always seem to fall short of it. Is there something particular about the Hangouts and Fi combo?

I'm not sure if the option is in the Fi app or the Hangouts app, but I allowed Hangouts to manage my SMS on the phone. It behaves as my Google Voice number did before: SMS (as hoped) and phone calls (not so useful in practice) pop up in Gmail as well as on the phone.

Re: Google Splits Hangouts into Chat and Meet

#63

Post by oomkiller »

AaronFriel wrote: post #46

Poe's Law as applied to enterprise messaging platforms. Dear Google, Please make one amazing chat app. Just one. Merge Allo, Duo, Chat, Hangouts, Meet, Messenger, Voice, and your RCS platform into one extensible platform with third party integrations. The comments in this thread? They are not flattering. It is not a sign of joy that people comment on Google releasing a new chat app, or confusing your branding even fu…

Monolithic apps suffer from design for the least common denominator. Business team chat and calling/texting your friend are entirely different problems and deserve different solutions.

Re: Google Splits Hangouts into Chat and Meet

#65

Post by bborud »

AaronFriel wrote: post #46

Poe's Law as applied to enterprise messaging platforms. Dear Google, Please make one amazing chat app. Just one. Merge Allo, Duo, Chat, Hangouts, Meet, Messenger, Voice, and your RCS platform into one extensible platform with third party integrations. The comments in this thread? They are not flattering. It is not a sign of joy that people comment on Google releasing a new chat app, or confusing your branding even fu…

This. A thousand times this.

First I stopped using Google+ (I mean: it isn't any good). Then over time I stopped logging Adium into Google Talk, because fewer and fewer people I know use it. I never started using Allo or Duo.

Re: Google Splits Hangouts into Chat and Meet

#67

Post by imgabe »

benballjr wrote: post #56
joshwd wrote: post #6

Oh yay, more chat apps from Google. I had finally hit a nice point of integration: using Hangouts with Project Fi means I got somewhat close to the iMessage experience (at least as far as being able to send/receive SMS from my computer). Clearly the integration wasn't great, and the Hangouts app is badly in need of work, but it's a shame to see that even that limited functionality is going away in favor of more fragm…

Can you elaborate on Hangouts + Project Fi? I'm also on Fi, and want the iMessage type experience, but always seem to fall short of it. Is there something particular about the Hangouts and Fi combo?

Set Hangouts as your default text message app on your phone, text messages and voicemail transcriptions then get sent to Hangouts and you can see them on the computer as well as the phone. You can also send text messages from the computer.

I never used iMessage so I don't know how it compares, but this has always worked well for me.

Re: Google Splits Hangouts into Chat and Meet

#68

Post by jboggan »

seanwilson wrote: post #15

Why do Google keep rebranding their chat attempts? Why don't they iteratively improve what they have?

Most tech companies are like nation states, ruled from above by a single strong leader (Apple under Jobs being the best example). I've become to understand Google is much more like Germany in the mid-19th century - a collection of competing principalities with a common language but a weak and ineffective government coordinating their efforts. I remember being told on the first day of orientation that Google was not a meritocracy, but a feudal society. I think all of our more puzzling product evolutions make much more sense in that light.
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