While Messages and RCS is how Google wants you to message friends, Google Chat also fits that role and the company today reminded us...

tl;dr: after pushing rcs so hard for years, killing hangouts well after forgetting about it, & hiding it from gmail, google now wants you to use its (and google allo’s) successor, google chat.

  •  red   ( @red@feddit.de ) English
    34•1 year ago

    Seriously. I’m quite a Google maximalist (yea, I know, spare me) and a young-ish not-that-old IT nerd. But even I have lost track of which chat app is currently the supported one / the successor of all the dead ones, and how to get is / use it (well, particularly on the web). If I’m confused, I can’t imagine how it is for the average internet user or old people.

      •  red   ( @red@feddit.de ) English
        5•1 year ago

        Absolutely. What I’m looking for is actually an Alternative to Skype on the Desktop, that is simple enough to use for my mother. Discord is too overloaded for her. Hangouts would have worked. Maybe Google Chat could fill the gap, I don’t even know what it can and can’t, despite relying Google products heavily. I literally gave up trying to follow their chat efforts years ago.

        •  myxi   ( @myxi@feddit.nl ) English
          13•1 year ago

          Just so you know, there is a desktop client of Signal for all major systems:

          I haven’t used Skype, but depending on use case, Signal might work.

            •  myxi   ( @myxi@feddit.nl ) English
              2•1 year ago

              It has pretty much everything along with the comfort of it being by a non-profit organisation from one of the former owners of WhatsApp. Video calls, voice calls, group messaging, stickers, emotes, etc.

    •  blivet   ( @blivet@kbin.social ) 
      3•1 year ago

      It’s really hard to fathom how Google’s decision makers don’t understand that in addition to being confusing, their failure to settle on one messaging app makes them look stupid and flaky in the eyes of average users. This isn’t some niche app for specialists that Google can get away with killing because the user base is relatively small. The general public uses instant messaging all day every day, and after having Google pull the football away two or three times, they’re just going to decide to use something that’s going to stick around instead.