Relevant documentation on their philosophy: https://developers.google.com/talk/open_communications https://developers.google.com/talk/open_communications Altho

Relevant documentation on their philosophy: https://developers.google.com/talk/open_communications https://developers.google.com/talk/open_communications Although Talk was one of their longest-running messaging tools, they ultimately pulled back their openness approach, blaming... pretty much everyone else (for not following suit): https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/google-talk-to-be-shut-down-on-june-26/ https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/google/google-talk-to-... Edited to add: I should note that their public reasoning for ending an era of open communication standards support differs from some internal accounts I have heard. Google Hangouts was launched amid a lot of internal turmoil related to Google+ and their desire to reclaim social.