8 ms·

My lord, why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? They had an established userbase, a name, a brand, and useful cross-platform tools already. I get the desire to start

My lord, why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? They had an established userbase, a name, a brand, and useful cross-platform tools already. I get the desire to start fresh, but that's a lot of established traction in a very crowded market to just throw away.

ickwabe 10y ago
Apparently Google plans to focus Hangouts on enterprise/business customers. http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/16/google-planning-focus-hangouts-business-consumers-allo-duo-release/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/16/google-planning-focu...
mark_l_watson 10y ago
That is what I think also. One possible explanation: internally Google eats their own dog food. When I was a contractor there, everything ran on gmail, gooogle docs, and hangouts. Perhaps they wanted something better for internal use, and now we get to use it also?
random42 10y ago
> why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? I was wondering that too. I honestly suspect some executive in Google's team wanted to have more visibility, team and power.
- Yhippa 10y ago
  Resume Driven Development
- djsumdog 10y ago
  oh I thought this was some new Hangouts interface, but it's not is it? So...Google Buzz. If they want something really innovative, bring back open standards and a federated IM protocol. We went from AIM/Yahoo/MSN to XMPP .. and back to Google/FB. It feels like a regression.
  - tw04 10y ago
    XMPP was just to crack the egg. They had to dangle a big enough carrot to get users to switch. They knew once they had them switched that it would be VERY unlikely users would go back. So... lockdown! And they were right, how many people have switched back to AOL/MSN/Yahoo? I know I haven't.
    - corobo 10y ago
      I switched to FB Messenger because it's on mobile and desktop, and everyone I talk to is there. If MSN wasn't dead I'd probably still be using that. Edit: Oh and more recently Discord has taken over my friend group's urge to talk with voices.
      - DanTheManPR 10y ago
        If only FB would release a proper desktop client for their messaging services. They could own that space.
        corobo 10y ago
        I use messenger.com more often than I use Facebook at this point. I know it's not technically a desktop app but you could probably set up a shortcut with something like (assuming chrome. Don't know if FF has the same feature) "path\to\chrome\chrome.exe" --app=https://www.messenger.com https://www.messenger.com Edit: Actually testing that, that's actually pretty neat. I'm going to do that when I get home!
        drroboto 10y ago
        I use franz http://meetfranz.com/ http://meetfranz.com/ specifically for that purpose
Pxtl 10y ago
Exactly. Hangouts has a lot of problems - its performance doesn't impress me, and the UI is confusing in a lot of ways, and splitting SMS/Conversations is something that really disappointed me, but still - it has the full featureset. I mean obviously, it suffers from the fact that it's heavily tied to Google accounts, which isn't ideal for trying to reach outside of the Google sphere. But otherwise, it does everything. So why doesn't it get more love from Google?
- davidw 10y ago
  Performance? Just how fast do you type, anyway? UI? I write things, and they appear in front of someone else. Even my technophobe mom has no problems with it. Tied to Google... well, yeah. But you kind of need some kind of 'account' for chat apps. I remember when 'Whatsapp' came out and people mentioned that it didn't have a web interface. I won't use anything that I can't type into when I'm at a computer - pulling out my phone and t-y-p-i-n-g out a message is just a non-starter.
  - what_ever 10y ago
    Hangouts is very sluggish. Messages are also delayed on it sometimes.
    - kbenson 10y ago
      I think it helps to define what we are talking about. "Hangouts" can be the system overall, the web interface (and which one, Inbox, Gmail or video chat?), or the mobile phone app, of which it may behavior differently on the different phone OSs. Hangouts is usually very timely and responsive for me when using Inbox or Gmail. The Android app is slow and annoying. I've never used the iOS app.
  - deathanatos 10y ago
    > Performance? Just how fast do you type, anyway? The UI lags hard for me during common operations, such as opening the app, and sending messages; often there's a several second lag between pressing the send button, the entry field blanking, and the message finally showing up in the conversation w/ UI indicating that it's in the process of being sent. And occasionally, yes, I out-type the app & phone's ability to process keyboard input. My phone is a bit old, but that seems like an excuse more than anything; I don't really understand why it's so hard for a device w/ a processor that measures its speed in GHz and RAM measured in GB to keep up with a single app whose job is to send text messages. But alas, the phone world's opinion is that I should upgrade to the latest and greatest $400-$600 phone every 18 months.
dragonwriter 10y ago
> My lord, why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? The same reason Duo isn't. Both are substantial departures from what Hangouts was, with some overlap, and calling either Hangouts would create incorrect expectations.
patrickaljord 10y ago
> They had an established userbase, a name, a brand While I agree with first two, Hangouts was a terrible brand with a bad rep on UX (too slow on Android, complex UI etc), it was kind of like Google's Internet Explorer. They had to get rid of the brand for consumers at least especially younger ones that are the prime target (the Snapchat generation if I may say). I agree though that Hangouts has a better reputation with the corporate world even though Slack is kind of eating their lunch minus the video part where they're still king I think.
falsedan 10y ago
> why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3 Ghost of Emu in the machine [0][1] [0]: https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/22/emus-android-texting-app-makes-your-sms-conversations-smarter/ https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/22/emus-android-texting-app-m... [1]: https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/06/google-acquires-emu-an-im-client-with-siri-like-intelligence/ https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/06/google-acquires-emu-an-im-...
pier25 10y ago
> why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? From what I've read Allo will become the casual messaging app, and Hangouts for work. Google probably wants to compete with Slack and similar offers. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Google allows Allo and Hangouts to communicate.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
aiureala 10y ago
They had talk, voice, buzz, hangouts ... have a messenger app ... now 2 more ... all of them incomplete, slow, confusing, ugly ... it's amazing how, with the immense budget they have and with so many smart people , they cannot come up with something decent These 2 new apps are destined to fail I still use hangouts cause it's linked with Gmail ... but I hate it cause it's slow and unreliable

ickwabe 10y ago

Apparently Google plans to focus Hangouts on enterprise/business customers. http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/16/google-planning-focus-hangouts-business-consumers-allo-duo-release/ http://www.androidpolice.com/2016/08/16/google-planning-focu...

mark_l_watson 10y ago

That is what I think also. One possible explanation: internally Google eats their own dog food. When I was a contractor there, everything ran on gmail, gooogle docs, and hangouts. Perhaps they wanted something better for internal use, and now we get to use it also?

random42 10y ago

> why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? I was wondering that too. I honestly suspect some executive in Google's team wanted to have more visibility, team and power.

Yhippa 10y ago
Resume Driven Development
djsumdog 10y ago
oh I thought this was some new Hangouts interface, but it's not is it? So...Google Buzz. If they want something really innovative, bring back open standards and a federated IM protocol. We went from AIM/Yahoo/MSN to XMPP .. and back to Google/FB. It feels like a regression.
- tw04 10y ago
  XMPP was just to crack the egg. They had to dangle a big enough carrot to get users to switch. They knew once they had them switched that it would be VERY unlikely users would go back. So... lockdown! And they were right, how many people have switched back to AOL/MSN/Yahoo? I know I haven't.
  - corobo 10y ago
    I switched to FB Messenger because it's on mobile and desktop, and everyone I talk to is there. If MSN wasn't dead I'd probably still be using that. Edit: Oh and more recently Discord has taken over my friend group's urge to talk with voices.
    - DanTheManPR 10y ago
      If only FB would release a proper desktop client for their messaging services. They could own that space.
      - corobo 10y ago
        I use messenger.com more often than I use Facebook at this point. I know it's not technically a desktop app but you could probably set up a shortcut with something like (assuming chrome. Don't know if FF has the same feature) "path\to\chrome\chrome.exe" --app=https://www.messenger.com https://www.messenger.com Edit: Actually testing that, that's actually pretty neat. I'm going to do that when I get home!
        drroboto 10y ago
        I use franz http://meetfranz.com/ http://meetfranz.com/ specifically for that purpose

Pxtl 10y ago

Exactly. Hangouts has a lot of problems - its performance doesn't impress me, and the UI is confusing in a lot of ways, and splitting SMS/Conversations is something that really disappointed me, but still - it has the full featureset. I mean obviously, it suffers from the fact that it's heavily tied to Google accounts, which isn't ideal for trying to reach outside of the Google sphere. But otherwise, it does everything. So why doesn't it get more love from Google?

davidw 10y ago
Performance? Just how fast do you type, anyway? UI? I write things, and they appear in front of someone else. Even my technophobe mom has no problems with it. Tied to Google... well, yeah. But you kind of need some kind of 'account' for chat apps. I remember when 'Whatsapp' came out and people mentioned that it didn't have a web interface. I won't use anything that I can't type into when I'm at a computer - pulling out my phone and t-y-p-i-n-g out a message is just a non-starter.
- what_ever 10y ago
  Hangouts is very sluggish. Messages are also delayed on it sometimes.
  - kbenson 10y ago
    I think it helps to define what we are talking about. "Hangouts" can be the system overall, the web interface (and which one, Inbox, Gmail or video chat?), or the mobile phone app, of which it may behavior differently on the different phone OSs. Hangouts is usually very timely and responsive for me when using Inbox or Gmail. The Android app is slow and annoying. I've never used the iOS app.
- deathanatos 10y ago
  > Performance? Just how fast do you type, anyway? The UI lags hard for me during common operations, such as opening the app, and sending messages; often there's a several second lag between pressing the send button, the entry field blanking, and the message finally showing up in the conversation w/ UI indicating that it's in the process of being sent. And occasionally, yes, I out-type the app & phone's ability to process keyboard input. My phone is a bit old, but that seems like an excuse more than anything; I don't really understand why it's so hard for a device w/ a processor that measures its speed in GHz and RAM measured in GB to keep up with a single app whose job is to send text messages. But alas, the phone world's opinion is that I should upgrade to the latest and greatest $400-$600 phone every 18 months.

dragonwriter 10y ago

> My lord, why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? The same reason Duo isn't. Both are substantial departures from what Hangouts was, with some overlap, and calling either Hangouts would create incorrect expectations.

patrickaljord 10y ago

> They had an established userbase, a name, a brand While I agree with first two, Hangouts was a terrible brand with a bad rep on UX (too slow on Android, complex UI etc), it was kind of like Google's Internet Explorer. They had to get rid of the brand for consumers at least especially younger ones that are the prime target (the Snapchat generation if I may say). I agree though that Hangouts has a better reputation with the corporate world even though Slack is kind of eating their lunch minus the video part where they're still king I think.

falsedan 10y ago

> why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3 Ghost of Emu in the machine [0][1] [0]: https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/22/emus-android-texting-app-makes-your-sms-conversations-smarter/ https://techcrunch.com/2013/10/22/emus-android-texting-app-m... [1]: https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/06/google-acquires-emu-an-im-client-with-siri-like-intelligence/ https://techcrunch.com/2014/08/06/google-acquires-emu-an-im-...

pier25 10y ago

> why isn't Allo just Hangouts 3? From what I've read Allo will become the casual messaging app, and Hangouts for work. Google probably wants to compete with Slack and similar offers. I wouldn't be surprised if at some point Google allows Allo and Hangouts to communicate.

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

aiureala 10y ago

They had talk, voice, buzz, hangouts ... have a messenger app ... now 2 more ... all of them incomplete, slow, confusing, ugly ... it's amazing how, with the immense budget they have and with so many smart people , they cannot come up with something decent These 2 new apps are destined to fail I still use hangouts cause it's linked with Gmail ... but I hate it cause it's slow and unreliable