Google gets rid of Gmail Chat in favor of Hangouts+

[kampioen]

Logged in to Gmail just now to find my Chat is no longer available, replaced with an "ad / banner" telling me to get google+ and hangouts.

 

Google is being evil.

 

 

Join Google+ and get Hangouts!

 

Group video calls

Enjoy video calls with up to 10 people at once.

 

Photos

Send pictures to everyone in the Hangout.

 

Circles

Start and join Hangouts with just the right people.

 

[+DonC Subscriber²]

Just looking after the bottom line.

[illage3]

gMail chat is still there for me.

[Max Norris]

gMail chat is still there for me.

Same, rarely use GMail but still got the chat box in the corner. Maybe it's a regional thing.. but eh companies consolidate their services all the time, especially when one gets superseded by another.

[techbeck]

Chat is there for me. You can upgrade Chat to Hangouts by clicking on your photo icon in Gmail's chat list.

[kampioen]

I no longer have chat at all, it really is just a banner.

 

Companies indeed consolidate services BUT... turning my e-mail client into a social platform is not consolidation, it's bullying.. Inflation of Google+ user numbers. EVIL.

[fusi0n]

Google is really starting to push me away from their services.. I like GChat.. Stop for forcing me to use ###### I don't want too. 

[jmc777]

Click "Join Google+", and on the page that pops up choose "Cancel", and Hangouts will be back again. Looks like you have to do it every time you sign-in.

[kampioen]

Yeah I just did that, hangouts shows up after you press cancel, then you can revert back to chat.. but seems like its a matter of time before they cancel it completely.

[trag3dy]

That's disappointing to hear. I don't want anything to do with Google+ or hangouts or whatever else. They are doing the same **** with youtube forcing the stupid pop ups to integrate your youtube account with google+ and using your real name.

 

If I wanted to use google+ I would have signed up for it years ago.

[LittleNeutrino Veteran]

hangouts has been there since the new hangouts launched if you had used the standard hangouts page, it upgraded it to all of your google products.

[techbeck]

Complaining about this is useless. No one is forcing anyone to use G+, Hangouts, or GMAIL for that matter.

[MikeChipshop Member]

Didn't this happen ages ago? I mean, i've had Hangouts there instead of chat for ageeees.

[techbeck]

That's disappointing to hear. I don't want anything to do with Google+ or hangouts or whatever else. They are doing the same **** with youtube forcing the stupid pop ups to integrate your youtube account with google+ and using your real name.

There are a ton of sites prompting you to sign in using your Facebook account and to join if you dont have FB. This is nothing new than what others are currently doing. Dont want to integrate Youtube with G+, you dont have to. not like Google is saying that if you dont have a G+ account, you cannot watch youtube videos.

[ichi]

turning my e-mail client into a social platform is not consolidation, it's bullying.. Inflation of Google+ user numbers. EVIL.

 

Your e-mail client is still an email client, what's integrated into a social platform is your chat client (which on the other hand you can still use from gmail or as a chrome extension, without ever going through google+).

 

Microsoft actually had their email client bound to a social platform (it was the first thing you got when you signed in, you had to click on mail to get to the inbox), it just so happened that virtually no one really used it.

[Dick Montage]

Google is being evil.

 

Let's not be dramatic or anything...

[Som]

didn't this happen months ago?

[trag3dy]

There are a ton of sites prompting you to sign in using your Facebook account and to join if you dont have FB. This is nothing new than what others are currently doing. Dont want to integrate Youtube with G+, you dont have to. not like Google is saying that if you dont have a G+ account, you cannot watch youtube videos.

 

I don't use facebook either.

[jmc777]

didn't this happen months ago?

 

The switch from chat to Hangouts, yes, but this is the first time they've removed a users chat/hangouts contact list to show that ad. Pretty crappy behaviour if you ask me.

[ichi]

The switch from chat to Hangouts, yes, but this is the first time they've removed a users chat/hangouts contact list to show that ad. Pretty crappy behaviour if you ask me.

They announced back then that they were deprecating talk anyway.

They do the same with lots of changes: first they announce them, later they show banners to the user suggesting switching to the new version, and finally they force the change on those that didn`t opt in before.

[jmc777]

I know, it's them making out you need to join Google+ to use Hangouts that's got my nose out of joint.

[SlimShady]

Since they're already forcing Youtube users to join G+, and now GMail users too, they're directing traffic to Google+.

It's obvious they're making G+ Hangouts an attractive alternative to Skype.

[UseLess]

Haha Google...keep trying, but you're not going to make the "+" happen. A competitor for Skype is good but, something to keep Skype improving :)

 

Edit: I'm not sure about the name but..."hangout" sounds like they're trying a little TOO hard to be cool.

[FloatingFatMan]

Haha Google...keep trying, but you're not going to make the "+" happen. A competitor for Skype is good but, something to keep Skype improving :)

 

Well, it's not working then, is it? Skype is still just as crap as it's always been. :p

[Skiver Veteran]

Is it just me being stupid but isn't hangouts pretty much just Google chat?! It looks the same to me, allows chat so what's the actual difference here?

 

I don't use G+ and don't really see any point in it, but it doesn't hurt to just accept it. This is the direction google is going, you can't seriously expect them to keep old services that are being replaced by new ones that seem to offer the exact same functionality.