This is what happens when you allow your interests to deviate from those of your users. Companies tell themselves a sweet lie that there's a common ground - peo

This is what happens when you allow your interests to deviate from those of your users. Companies tell themselves a sweet lie that there's a common ground - people will love G+, G+ is great for Google, it all just happens to be a beautiful marriage. Herd them there and everyone is happy, even if there's a little initial resistance. But it's a terrible lie. The simplicity of Talk was a huge feature. I still have not upgraded to Hangouts on my tablet. Frankly, I just don't understand what the hell G+ really is. It has so many features, so many facets, it's like a giant ball of wool that I don't know how to unravel. But it's not so much that I can't unravel it (I know I could if I spent the effort) - but I know I can't expect others to do that. Telling someone to join G+ implies so much possibly more than just a chat service, which is what we actually want. Even if they are already members, I might end up seeing who all their friends and relationships are, their photos, god knows what else. I don't want any of that. Telling them to use Hangouts and not join G+ is another giant ball of weirdness. It's too much, it's too complex. So I've gone from recommending everyone use GTalk to trying to find something simpler that just works and just does the single thing I want. ie., exactly what Talk used to be.