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I think the biggest problem are discovery and execution. Take the basic problem: How do I know which of my contacts I can contact where? Google already had a u

I think the biggest problem are discovery and execution. Take the basic problem: How do I know which of my contacts I can contact where? Google already had a unified account system, which covers a huge portion of the internet-using world: Google-accounts. It would be perfect for discovery and tying things together neatly with what they already have to offer. If a contact your are chatting with in "Hangouts" (formerly Google talk and before that gchat?) also was using Duo on his phone... Google could show an icon for Due and offer a video-call to this person. If both systems used the same ID. Instead they chose to create entirely new login systems and identities for their new IM systems. This needless fragmentation means I don't know which of my contacts are available on which of the many google-provided IM-services. Some small changes here could really have significantly lowered the pain involved, and made all these different apps tie together in a way which would have been useful. Now we just have a mess, getting worse every year, and I now refuse to use any of them for it.

dcole2929 9y ago
Because this is honestly a really hard problem. There honestly just not really a good way of combining accounts without lots of manual effort on the part of the user. Users also largely don't want this. When Google combined Gmail and Youtube accounts it was just a god awful clusterfuck that required a lot of manual intervention for each user to get their stuff back in order. It also was a net negative because people didn't want their email/google+ tied to their anonymous youtube accounts.
- rifung 9y ago
  Well I think there was no need to have separate accounts to begin with. YouTube and Gmail had different accounts because YouTube was a separate company. I work for Google but opinions are my own.
  - GFischer 9y ago
    I think having the option for separate accounts would have been best. I try not to post anything on Youtube or favourite videos or anything because it's tied to my "real" Google identity which is very traceable to me. For the same reason I try not to link my Facebook or Google accounts to games and stuff I can help it (though I've mostly given up). I did have a "fake" Facebook account for lots of stuff that wanted access to my Facebook feed and it's craptacular. Same for Google, but switching accounts for Youtube is a hassle,
    - josteink 9y ago
      > I think having the option for separate accounts would have been best. That's very contextual IMO. Having the same handle across various private communication tools provided by the same company makes sense. Forcing you to use your real identity when making public comments traceable across the internet is something completely different. Forcing Youtubers to use real identities was bad. For these IM services, creating new accounts was bad.

dcole2929 9y ago

Because this is honestly a really hard problem. There honestly just not really a good way of combining accounts without lots of manual effort on the part of the user. Users also largely don't want this. When Google combined Gmail and Youtube accounts it was just a god awful clusterfuck that required a lot of manual intervention for each user to get their stuff back in order. It also was a net negative because people didn't want their email/google+ tied to their anonymous youtube accounts.

rifung 9y ago
Well I think there was no need to have separate accounts to begin with. YouTube and Gmail had different accounts because YouTube was a separate company. I work for Google but opinions are my own.
- GFischer 9y ago
  I think having the option for separate accounts would have been best. I try not to post anything on Youtube or favourite videos or anything because it's tied to my "real" Google identity which is very traceable to me. For the same reason I try not to link my Facebook or Google accounts to games and stuff I can help it (though I've mostly given up). I did have a "fake" Facebook account for lots of stuff that wanted access to my Facebook feed and it's craptacular. Same for Google, but switching accounts for Youtube is a hassle,
  - josteink 9y ago
    > I think having the option for separate accounts would have been best. That's very contextual IMO. Having the same handle across various private communication tools provided by the same company makes sense. Forcing you to use your real identity when making public comments traceable across the internet is something completely different. Forcing Youtubers to use real identities was bad. For these IM services, creating new accounts was bad.