6 ms·

Most of the Google Hangouts API is being killed on April 25th

68 points by werediver 10y ago

tym0 10y ago
I doubt they'll kill it completely, it is widely used as office messenger in companies that use Google Apps. In my company all the engineers use slack but everyone else uses hangouts.
HugoDaniel 10y ago
Is there good alternatives to google hangouts ? That preferably works with gmail contacts and/or phone contacts in a native desktop app (i.e. not with an electron style app).
- quanticle 10y ago
  I was interviewed a couple times using http://appear.in http://appear.in. It worked pretty well both times I used it. I didn't have any problems with video or screen sharing.
  - hobarrera 10y ago
    appear.in is excelent for ad-hoc videocalls (especially with peolpe you don't have in your everyday chat client), but it's not very useful for people you frequently contact, or for quickly upgrading a text-chat into a videocall.
- JorgeGT 10y ago
  I really like the unobtrusive Hangout's "orbs" desktop interface. Is there a similar interface solution for other messaging apps?
- dade_ 10y ago
  Cisco Spark, but the free version is limited to 3 party video calls. Supports web, native windows, Mac, Android, iOS.
- CapacitorSet 10y ago
  [OpenTokRTC](https://opentokrtc.com/ https://opentokrtc.com/) relies on WebRTC, a vendor-independent HTML5 technology.
- peterschroeder 10y ago
  Zoom is my go to https://zoom.us/ https://zoom.us/
- jedikv 10y ago
  https://jitsi.org/ https://jitsi.org/
true_religion 10y ago
I hope this means that both Allo and Duo will be getting desktop app releases.
fuck_google 10y ago
Google might as well kill all of its IM apps. Open APIs and interoperability were a big reason why people started using Google services. Without that there really is no reason to use Google apps when more popular choices exist.
majc2 10y ago
Who's surprised? Google has a rep for killing things off now - I think it damages their brand; but I have to assume they've thought about this and judged that its still worth it.
- 65827 10y ago
  I'm just starting to wish that some of these good services would just freeze instead of constantly "improving" based on some "big data" that is being horribly misinterpreted.
  - vinay427 10y ago
    To be fair, it does cost money and time just to maintain a static product due to customer support, bugs, security updates, etc.
    - angry-hacker 10y ago
      Definitely not customer support...
- samfisher83 10y ago
  They have been doing this forever it hasn't hurt their brand too much.
  - wongarsu 10y ago
    I think it has. People started to think twice about the switching costs before adopting a google service. The first question you hear whenever google starts a new cloud service is "how long is google going to offer this".
    - cheriot 10y ago
      Those are questions that we need to ask of every service and vendor, especially free and low priced ones. If google has helped people recognize this then it's for the best.
Klathmon 10y ago
It seems many of the comments here read this like hangouts is being killed. The hangouts API was mostly for little widgets and extensions that would running the video chat platform on desktop only. They haven't worked on the new UI for almost 6 months now, they never worked on mobile, and you could count the number of apps on 2 hands. The only one I ever used was a thing where you could draw on a friend's face during a video call, and even that was a one time thing. Hangouts isn't being shutdown, they aren't gutting it's functionality, they are simplifying the system.
- xiaoma 10y ago
  Some companies have used it for language tutoring. There are a lot of things a language learner with a keyboard and mouse can productively do during a video chat that isn't built into hangouts, e.g. looking up words, saving vocab items, etc... And that's just one use case. What this change will do is chop off those offering free services at the knees and drive the premium services to Twilio, etc.
  - automatwon 10y ago
    Some companies have used it for language tutoring... What this change will do is chop off those offering free services at the knees and drive the premium services to Twilio, etc. Google's a business. Why does it have the responsibility to pickup the tab for these businesses?
    - xiaoma 10y ago
      Aside from the fact that education has second order effects that powerfully benefit humanity as whole, good will is a boon for companies. The cost of running hangouts (which is essentially P2P) is a rounding error for Google. Why shut down those who are literally providing education for free? Every time Google does something like this, it becomes a bit less beloved by consumers, loses a bit more of that halo it had in the early 2000s and finds itself having a bit harder time with regulators in the future. In Google's IPO filing: "We aspire to make Google an institution that makes the world a better place. With our products, Google connects people and information all around the world for free. We are adding other powerful services such as Gmail that provides an efficient one gigabyte Gmail account for free. By releasing services for free, we hope to help bridge the digital divide." "We believe that our user focus is the foundation of our success to date. We also believe that this focus is critical for the creation of long-term value. We do not intend to compromise our user focus for short-term economic gain."
zehemer 10y ago
I wonder what this would mean for hangups: https://github.com/tdryer/hangups https://github.com/tdryer/hangups
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
ansy 10y ago
I wish Google would make Hangouts more Slack-like. Especially if they want to target the enterprise. It seems they really just need to add the concept of chat rooms.
- Klathmon 10y ago
  It has them, but not with the same UX that Slack does. You can create what would be a "group conversation" in slack, then add more people and rename it to whatever you want.
hobarrera 10y ago
Google has so many chat clients right no: Allo, Duo, Hangouts, and I also just discovered that they have Google Messenger (which I've yet so see). I'm not sure what their strategy is, but they seem to be flodding the market with apps that nobody uses. Meanwhile, a few [other] 2-3 apps seem to be used 90% of the time. Their best shot at this point, IMHO, is to buy some [very popular] existing product, and merge all their chat apps into that one.
rmykhajliw 10y ago
Hangouts awesome app. It was my replacement for Skype for the last 7 years i suppose, since I had access to close beta. It's really great app. But There was a few issue with cpu/battery consumption for Hangouts. I did not understand why Google avoided development optimized desktop app and sticked with desktop only app then chrome extension only. It's crazy wrong, because video call drains my macbook battery unbelievable fast. Anyway Hangouts is great for companies/corporate chats, I wish to have conference call integrated inside as it was in beginning with user-conference .
aries1980 10y ago
How does this affect 3rd-party chat clients such as Pidgin?

68 points by werediver 10y ago

tym0 10y ago

I doubt they'll kill it completely, it is widely used as office messenger in companies that use Google Apps. In my company all the engineers use slack but everyone else uses hangouts.

HugoDaniel 10y ago

Is there good alternatives to google hangouts ? That preferably works with gmail contacts and/or phone contacts in a native desktop app (i.e. not with an electron style app).

quanticle 10y ago
I was interviewed a couple times using http://appear.in http://appear.in. It worked pretty well both times I used it. I didn't have any problems with video or screen sharing.
- hobarrera 10y ago
  appear.in is excelent for ad-hoc videocalls (especially with peolpe you don't have in your everyday chat client), but it's not very useful for people you frequently contact, or for quickly upgrading a text-chat into a videocall.
JorgeGT 10y ago
I really like the unobtrusive Hangout's "orbs" desktop interface. Is there a similar interface solution for other messaging apps?
dade_ 10y ago
Cisco Spark, but the free version is limited to 3 party video calls. Supports web, native windows, Mac, Android, iOS.
CapacitorSet 10y ago
[OpenTokRTC](https://opentokrtc.com/ https://opentokrtc.com/) relies on WebRTC, a vendor-independent HTML5 technology.
peterschroeder 10y ago
Zoom is my go to https://zoom.us/ https://zoom.us/
jedikv 10y ago
https://jitsi.org/ https://jitsi.org/

true_religion 10y ago

I hope this means that both Allo and Duo will be getting desktop app releases.

fuck_google 10y ago

Google might as well kill all of its IM apps. Open APIs and interoperability were a big reason why people started using Google services. Without that there really is no reason to use Google apps when more popular choices exist.

majc2 10y ago

Who's surprised? Google has a rep for killing things off now - I think it damages their brand; but I have to assume they've thought about this and judged that its still worth it.

65827 10y ago
I'm just starting to wish that some of these good services would just freeze instead of constantly "improving" based on some "big data" that is being horribly misinterpreted.
- vinay427 10y ago
  To be fair, it does cost money and time just to maintain a static product due to customer support, bugs, security updates, etc.
  - angry-hacker 10y ago
    Definitely not customer support...
samfisher83 10y ago
They have been doing this forever it hasn't hurt their brand too much.
- wongarsu 10y ago
  I think it has. People started to think twice about the switching costs before adopting a google service. The first question you hear whenever google starts a new cloud service is "how long is google going to offer this".
  - cheriot 10y ago
    Those are questions that we need to ask of every service and vendor, especially free and low priced ones. If google has helped people recognize this then it's for the best.

Klathmon 10y ago

It seems many of the comments here read this like hangouts is being killed. The hangouts API was mostly for little widgets and extensions that would running the video chat platform on desktop only. They haven't worked on the new UI for almost 6 months now, they never worked on mobile, and you could count the number of apps on 2 hands. The only one I ever used was a thing where you could draw on a friend's face during a video call, and even that was a one time thing. Hangouts isn't being shutdown, they aren't gutting it's functionality, they are simplifying the system.

xiaoma 10y ago
Some companies have used it for language tutoring. There are a lot of things a language learner with a keyboard and mouse can productively do during a video chat that isn't built into hangouts, e.g. looking up words, saving vocab items, etc... And that's just one use case. What this change will do is chop off those offering free services at the knees and drive the premium services to Twilio, etc.
- automatwon 10y ago
  Some companies have used it for language tutoring... What this change will do is chop off those offering free services at the knees and drive the premium services to Twilio, etc. Google's a business. Why does it have the responsibility to pickup the tab for these businesses?
  - xiaoma 10y ago
    Aside from the fact that education has second order effects that powerfully benefit humanity as whole, good will is a boon for companies. The cost of running hangouts (which is essentially P2P) is a rounding error for Google. Why shut down those who are literally providing education for free? Every time Google does something like this, it becomes a bit less beloved by consumers, loses a bit more of that halo it had in the early 2000s and finds itself having a bit harder time with regulators in the future. In Google's IPO filing: "We aspire to make Google an institution that makes the world a better place. With our products, Google connects people and information all around the world for free. We are adding other powerful services such as Gmail that provides an efficient one gigabyte Gmail account for free. By releasing services for free, we hope to help bridge the digital divide." "We believe that our user focus is the foundation of our success to date. We also believe that this focus is critical for the creation of long-term value. We do not intend to compromise our user focus for short-term economic gain."

zehemer 10y ago

I wonder what this would mean for hangups: https://github.com/tdryer/hangups https://github.com/tdryer/hangups

deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

ansy 10y ago

I wish Google would make Hangouts more Slack-like. Especially if they want to target the enterprise. It seems they really just need to add the concept of chat rooms.

Klathmon 10y ago
It has them, but not with the same UX that Slack does. You can create what would be a "group conversation" in slack, then add more people and rename it to whatever you want.

hobarrera 10y ago

Google has so many chat clients right no: Allo, Duo, Hangouts, and I also just discovered that they have Google Messenger (which I've yet so see). I'm not sure what their strategy is, but they seem to be flodding the market with apps that nobody uses. Meanwhile, a few [other] 2-3 apps seem to be used 90% of the time. Their best shot at this point, IMHO, is to buy some [very popular] existing product, and merge all their chat apps into that one.

rmykhajliw 10y ago

Hangouts awesome app. It was my replacement for Skype for the last 7 years i suppose, since I had access to close beta. It's really great app. But There was a few issue with cpu/battery consumption for Hangouts. I did not understand why Google avoided development optimized desktop app and sticked with desktop only app then chrome extension only. It's crazy wrong, because video call drains my macbook battery unbelievable fast. Anyway Hangouts is great for companies/corporate chats, I wish to have conference call integrated inside as it was in beginning with user-conference .

aries1980 10y ago

How does this affect 3rd-party chat clients such as Pidgin?