4 ms·

> How many messaging systems has Google had over the years? I remember my Nexus 5 came with at least two Google messaging apps at the same time. The problem i

> How many messaging systems has Google had over the years? I remember my Nexus 5 came with at least two Google messaging apps at the same time. The problem isn't just churn, it's lack of focus. I wonder how many different teams have been tasked with solving messaging, some at the same time, over the years.

zamadatix 5y ago
I still can't believe they had Hangouts doing IM, SMS/MMS via Google Voice, SMS/MMS locally, voice/video calls, groups, integration with previous Google Talk users, and integration into native Fi calling all from your choice of web page, browser extension, browser app, or mobile app... and decided the best way to move forward was to deprecate it and break it into half a dozen apps over 7 years to be left with only some features migrated into an enterprise slack clone that had to be fed back to normal users because all of the other one off apps failed. One of the apps they broke off, Allo, literally used phone numbers as IM identifiers but didn't support Google Voice integration and they simultaneously launched a second app, Duo, for video calls instead of just putting it in Allo. How could someone higher up not say "this is the dumbest thing ever, merge the teams or reassign one to something else"??? I was farther in the future of converged communication in 2015 than now.
- icelancer 5y ago
  Really makes no sense. Google Hangouts was by far their best product for all the reasons you stated, and kept me on the Android platform + Google Voice. When they started to break it up, I went to iOS and ported my number. Can't be bothered to deal with all that shit.
  - Melatonic 5y ago
    Hangouts was just a terrible marketing name - it was originally Google Chat ( and it did SMS as well) and they should have just stuck with that. I mean hell - we are BACK to google chat again now
    - sumedh 5y ago
      > Hangouts was just a terrible marketing name I still have a soft spot for Google Talk, that was such a simple name.
      - Melatonic 5y ago
        Totally forgot about Google Talk and I agree - great name. It seems like it was right around that time that Google shifted gears from simple and effective development to fragmented and lacking in interdepartmental communication. Which is pretty ironic now that I think about it because were talking about apps they likely used internally for COMMUNICATION
- monkeybutton 5y ago
  >How could someone higher up not say "this is the dumbest thing ever, merge the teams or reassign one to something else"??? Seriously! Executives at Google surely must be aware of the memes by now. Are they so delusional they don't believe them? They don't care? When they chat with each other, which app do they use? Steve Yegg's platform rant still rings true: Google's dogfood is all snouts and hooves.
- dwaite 5y ago
  > How could someone higher up not say "this is the dumbest thing ever, merge the teams or reassign one to something else"??? They tried that. The person who was put in charge of the merged teams picked one and killed off all the other services without a migration path.
Gigachad 5y ago
I just can't understand why Google has done what it has. They still could have reinvented messaging every year but they should have done it under the same name/app id so users would automatically get moved over to whatever the latest experience is. Rather than what they did which was introduce huge migration pain every time they redesign IM.

zamadatix 5y ago

I still can't believe they had Hangouts doing IM, SMS/MMS via Google Voice, SMS/MMS locally, voice/video calls, groups, integration with previous Google Talk users, and integration into native Fi calling all from your choice of web page, browser extension, browser app, or mobile app... and decided the best way to move forward was to deprecate it and break it into half a dozen apps over 7 years to be left with only some features migrated into an enterprise slack clone that had to be fed back to normal users because all of the other one off apps failed. One of the apps they broke off, Allo, literally used phone numbers as IM identifiers but didn't support Google Voice integration and they simultaneously launched a second app, Duo, for video calls instead of just putting it in Allo. How could someone higher up not say "this is the dumbest thing ever, merge the teams or reassign one to something else"??? I was farther in the future of converged communication in 2015 than now.

icelancer 5y ago
Really makes no sense. Google Hangouts was by far their best product for all the reasons you stated, and kept me on the Android platform + Google Voice. When they started to break it up, I went to iOS and ported my number. Can't be bothered to deal with all that shit.
- Melatonic 5y ago
  Hangouts was just a terrible marketing name - it was originally Google Chat ( and it did SMS as well) and they should have just stuck with that. I mean hell - we are BACK to google chat again now
  - sumedh 5y ago
    > Hangouts was just a terrible marketing name I still have a soft spot for Google Talk, that was such a simple name.
    - Melatonic 5y ago
      Totally forgot about Google Talk and I agree - great name. It seems like it was right around that time that Google shifted gears from simple and effective development to fragmented and lacking in interdepartmental communication. Which is pretty ironic now that I think about it because were talking about apps they likely used internally for COMMUNICATION
monkeybutton 5y ago
>How could someone higher up not say "this is the dumbest thing ever, merge the teams or reassign one to something else"??? Seriously! Executives at Google surely must be aware of the memes by now. Are they so delusional they don't believe them? They don't care? When they chat with each other, which app do they use? Steve Yegg's platform rant still rings true: Google's dogfood is all snouts and hooves.
dwaite 5y ago
> How could someone higher up not say "this is the dumbest thing ever, merge the teams or reassign one to something else"??? They tried that. The person who was put in charge of the merged teams picked one and killed off all the other services without a migration path.

Gigachad 5y ago

I just can't understand why Google has done what it has. They still could have reinvented messaging every year but they should have done it under the same name/app id so users would automatically get moved over to whatever the latest experience is. Rather than what they did which was introduce huge migration pain every time they redesign IM.