Twice this week I seemed to sing the praises of some neat advances in Google's apps/ecosystem; today, however...
[caption id="attachment_151389" align="alignleft" width="170"]
Former Google Talk logo, used on the product website and PC desktop client.[/caption]
I received the notification this morning of Google Talk's upgrade to Hangouts[1]. (Yeah, I know I could've sought out the upgrade yesterday, but just letting things come in their own time is more fun--kind of like getting a surprise gift. Additionally, I've been trying not to search out what's going on--again, the whole surprise thing.)
After reading the promises of what was now available, I found myself excited and a bit giddy, anxiously awaiting for the app to hurry up and install so that I could play with it! But, then...
...I discovered that I hate it.
sigh
[caption id="attachment_151394" align="alignright" width="168"]
[2] The contact list; for selecting who to start a new "Hangout" with. Of the contacts suggested here, only three are "using" Hangouts or some other Google product that has since been taken over by Hangouts.[/caption]
2: http://kg4vma.duckdns.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/404.jpg
Hangouts is so much more than Talk--aka Google Talk, GTalk, GChat; in addition to the "traditional" concepts of an IM client/service, Hangouts brings the ability for a mini-chatroom environment among a maximum of ten participants--a feature of the former Google Hangout service, which has also been absorbed into the new Hangouts. Video conferencing, "calls", and a wider variety of emoticons/emoji are also available in the new Hangouts--SMS and integration/absorption of Google Voice are allegedly forthcoming, as well--making the service/app an uber-end-all messaging app. Oh, and did I mention the cross-platform abilities, with the service having an app on iOS, and the Chrome plugin available on the PC?
...but...
...it pushes Google+, a service which I still don't use--well, sort of. I do have a G+ profile[3]--again, something I was part-way pushed into--and I have managed to find ways to push content to my profile--in the off-chance that someone I know actually creates a profile and wishes to seek me out. (I also "had" to create a profile so that I could ready myself to create a page for HarrisonEMA, should G+ ever become popular...)
3: https://plus.google.com/107315863833405675419/about
... functionality is--well, I dunno--it works, but the interface is missing something...
On the Android device, I must say that the appearance of the app is rather nice, but use and navigation--despite conforming to the "new" Android standards--is a bit clunky and confusing. I could say that my opinion/experience is due to having an older OS, but a quick search in G+ reveals that people running ICS and Jellybean are thinking the same thing. (Yes, I used G+; I mean, where else am I going to get the best voice on Hangout usage?)
Playing with Hangouts on the PC is even worse than on the phone...
[caption id="attachment_151390" align="alignleft" width="170"]
The former Google Talk PC client.[/caption]
In order to use Hangouts, one must either go through their Gmail, use the sidebar that pops up on Google+, or install a Chrome addition; I briefly checked it out on G+ and installed it for Chrome--I didn't dare mess around with it in Gmail, though I'm sure it will be forced upon me. In it's more "native" environment in Google+, Hangouts seems to function okay and is somewhat more visually appealing; via the Chrome extension, though... In the Chrome version, Hangouts appears as a rather minimalistic in color and design, always-on-top-overlaid box. [Always-on-top can be disabled; when not actively being used the box can be "minimized" to the lower right of the browser window.] Personally, I don't care for a Chrome extension--Chrome has too large of a footprint in memory consumption and CPU cycles as it is; so why would I want to be forced into adding to this mess? Maybe if I were one of the few using a Chromebook...
A feature of it's design that is common in all iterations, though varying in appearence, is the contact list--and it ain't too pretty or intelligent, either. The contact list will display contacts that are used "the most often"--favorites, if you will--irregardless of their presense on Hangouts or any Google product. Contacting a person via Hangouts that is offline will--or should, rather, as I am speculating--deliver an "offline" message to that contact for later receipt; contacting a person who is not using Hangouts will result in the delivery of an invite via SMS, email, etc. The person receiving an invite will be taken to the Hangouts introduction/sign-up page, which will then eventually ask for a Gmail/Google+/Google Account sign-up, and so, and so, and so, and so... Remember that comment I made about it pushing Google+?
sigh
...so, I'll either be downgrading my phone back to the old Talk app, or giving up on Talk altogether--likely the latter, where I foresee the old interface being blocked/killed. For now the old Talk apps and third party XMPP/Jabber clients still work, but I haven't found anything anywhere saying that Hangouts is using XMPP, or whether there's just some sort of translation gateway in place for the time-being. Fortunately, I can easily give-up on Talk--the only contact I have is my wife; it's been that way since '05--none of my other friends/family ever really drank the Google Kool-Aid...
...I'm just afraid of what will happen when Google adds Voice into this mess; I really don't want to give up on another service...
[ADDENDUM]
...it looks like an XMPP translation doohickey might be what's going on for now. According to an article by The Verge[4], Google did drop XMPP for the new Hangouts.
4: http://www.theverge.com/2013/5/15/4318830/inside-hangouts-googles-big-fix-for-its-messaging-mess
I wonder how long Google will keep the XMPP access available...
Tags: #thoughts and stuff
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