> Hangouts was deprecated _4 years ago_, it has a _direct_ replacement
What is the direct replacement? Spaces? Allo? Duo? Chat? Meet? Google Messages? Google+ Messenger? It's hardly clear...
I didn't even know chat.google.com existed until someone on HN linked to it a few weeks ago. I think it's pretty difficult to claim that Google's hodgepodge of overlapping chat products is anywhere close to the iChat -> iMessage change.
Think that's a strawman, though you're right, I see this argument often. Coming from iOS -> Android, my mental model is Duo is FaceTime, Chat is Slack, Meet is Zoom. Allo is iMessage.
I don't grok how this could confuse, other than to people who aren't in the ecosystem or using the products at all, and even then it seems to be giving 0 charity to the facts on the ground. No one's bemoaning the deep confusion and duplication they face between iMessage, FaceTime, Slack, and Zoom.
Edit: I'm really, really, tired of understanding, calm, takes that make an effort to have empathy and share info getting downvoted, if it's outside a mono-Apple worldview. It is literally the only tech topic where you can immediately hit -2 for no discernable reason. This didn't used to happen on HN, and that's what used to make it distinctive.
On iOS, if it’s deprecated, what’s the replacement for Hangouts for normal users?
As far as I know there isn’t one. There are people I message with Hangouts pretty regularly and it’s never told me it’s deprecated or suggested anything else to use instead (except for just now, to switch to the dedicated Voice app for Voice, which… fine, but no suggestion to do my chatting elsewhere).
So is Hangouts deprecated? I have no idea. If it is, does that mean chatting with my Gmail contacts is deprecated?
I wouldn’t say it’s a straw man to call it confusing. Maybe the product lineup is less confusing if you’re on Android? But from where I’m sat… yep, confusing!
As parent noted, chat.google.com is the long term replacement, as you noted, Hangouts still works fine and no one's being pushed to Chat yet. It sounds like I'm being glib but you really are onto the nut of things once you've combined those two poles,
I agree, it is confusing! I wanted to make sure you meant 'chat in Gmail' before getting more specific: in that case, we are caught in a cycle of repeatedly noting Google has a deprecation timeline for cutting people over from Hangouts to chat.google.com, that's what the grandparent was referencing. It's virtually identical to Hangouts, just with modernized UI and Google sez a more stable backend. Everything works _just as it always has and will_ for your day to day user.
I’ve used Android 2010 to 2012, iOS 2012-2014 with iTunes Match, Android 2014 to 2020 with Google Music and just switched back to iOS with an iPhone 12 mini and Apple Music. I’m on Fi since 2015. After reading your message I realized how I probably should have used Android during the last year. To be honest, none of this was clear to me. I rooted for Android all the way, but at some point I started to migrate off the Google product and into an alternative when I got pushed from one service to the other for no benefits to me. On top of that, Android became more closed, with less and less apps being open source and replaced by proprietary Google apps. Now that I’m back to iOS I’m really amazed how the good parts just haven’t changed. Apple supports bringing my library just as well as iTunes Match did, for example. Also getting voice and sms on my laptop works out of the box, whereas a Fi on Android customer it sometimes worked better than other times for example I have no idea what I would use on a computer now that hangouts will be gone?
Android's SMS app offers you to scan a QR code with messages.android.com to text from your computer, a la whatsapp, for all Android users. Additionally, Google Fi users can access voicemail/SMS/phone through that same app https://9to5google.com/2020/10/23/google-fi-web-messages/
I believe you're still able to draw a firm enough distinction between how Slack and iMessage are designed as to understand why they would be separate products. Is that accurate, or does iMessage feel like it could be merged into Slack at no loss to you?
You feel like the one missing the point here. The discussion is about a change within the Google product line, what do Slack and Zoom have to do with it?
I get the impression you may be treating this as "what are the leading products in each niche for the overall ecosystem," but that doesn't really have anything to do with what's being discussed.
I, at least, wouldn't clamor for the merger of an Apple-owned Slack and iMessage.
The point being, people are conflating work messaging apps with personal messaging apps and acting like having unique versions of both is a problem. It's not.
The thread is about duplication of products within a company's ecosystem, what I'm not understanding is why drawing a comparison between Slack and iMessage having some duplication is relevant. (also for the record I'm not downvoting you at all, HN likes to brigade when it comes to Apple/Google ecosystem stuff)
Interlocutory techniques like refusing to engage with the posts as written, and instead nitpicking, cause those outcomes.
I highly, highly, highly doubt that you were so deeply confused by the Meet/Slack Allo/iMessage analogy that you needed me to spell out 'hypothetically, if Apple owned Slack, which of course it doesn't, would it be more usable for you to have Slack merged with iMessage?' Your complete lack of charity in interpretation forces lengthy, caveated, responses in drawn-out threads, emphasizing downvotes, and ensuring several opportunities for downvotes.
What is the direct replacement? Spaces? Allo? Duo? Chat? Meet? Google Messages? Google+ Messenger? It's hardly clear...
I didn't even know chat.google.com existed until someone on HN linked to it a few weeks ago. I think it's pretty difficult to claim that Google's hodgepodge of overlapping chat products is anywhere close to the iChat -> iMessage change.