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Also, they have had Hangouts, Messenger, Talk, Voice, Allo, and Duo... most with the same functionality. What is up with Google's product management? Is there a

Also, they have had Hangouts, Messenger, Talk, Voice, Allo, and Duo... most with the same functionality. What is up with Google's product management? Is there a strategy?

joekrill 9y ago
Then they seem to randomly consolidate (I believe Hangouts was supposed to bring all that together, including SMS), only to do a complete 180 a few months later and split everything up again. I mean it's kind of absurd at this point.
- ignoramous 9y ago
  I think the hangouts/duo/allo is a one-off, and that was because of Vic Gundotra loosing out?
mbesto 9y ago
My understanding is that they effectively let these service duke it out to see which one survives and then choose that one.
- ocdtrekkie 9y ago
  The problem is, most of these sorts of services work via a network effect. Especially chat: You use the one all your friends are using. Payment is the one that all your accounts and stores you go to support. Running a bunch of your own competitors is self-defeating when it ensures you don't have the network effect. Google Talk worked mostly because it was in Gmail, and everyone had Gmail. People who never used it had it, because Gmail.
- yupyup 9y ago
  Darwinian Product Strategy? Quick, someone should register it and publish a book and make a career giving talks about it...
- jaxondu 9y ago
  Feel the same. One example is Angular Typescript and then there is AngularDart, both are used by teams in Google.
- gedy 9y ago
  Maybe that works for their internal politics, but not for the users. I've given up even trying new Google offerings
  - mbesto 9y ago
    Never said it was a good strategy ;)
nine_k 9y ago
Hmm, what? I think e.g. Talk/Hangouts and Voice are radically different: one is about text messaging and video calls, another is about a connection to the "legacy" voice telephony network, with a dial-able number, etc. They started (long ago) form very different areas. They could have a seamless bridge between them, though. They sort of tried: you can dial a phone from Hangouts, but not back, or you can receive your Voice text messages in the email, but not send a reply back (afaict). Google is notoriously bad at cohesive product management. They have a number of bright ideas, but no visionary in the consumer product space, so apparently no coordination.
- niftich 9y ago
  Google Voice was a rebrand of a product acquired in 2009. Google Talk was an XMPP chat service launched in 2005, and integrated into Gmail in 2006. "+Hangouts" was originally a feature inside Google Plus, launched in 2011, just like "+Messenger". 'Google Hangouts' was a 2013 launch to bring Talk, +Messenger, and +Hangouts into one product. This was further blurred by their various apps, which sometimes had differing functionality from the websites. The latest iteration of Google Voice has chat, for example, while SMS support inside the Hangouts Android App was removed on purpose and users told to use yet another app, first called Messenger, now called Messages. All their communication products suffer from convergent evolution, yet remain in dizzyingly varying states of integration with each other.
  - jyrkesh 9y ago
    I've had a miserable love-hate relationship with Google Voice for years, what do you mean by "the latest iteration of Google Voice has chat?"
    - niftich 9y ago
      Announced in January 2017, the Android, iOS, and Web versions of Google Voice have a revamped UI and, apparently, text chat [1]; discussed on HN at [2]. [1] https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updates-our-google-voice-apps/ https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updat... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13463940 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13463940
jonny_eh 9y ago
You forgot Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/ https://meet.google.com/
- weber111 9y ago
  Thanks for pointing that out! I had no idea it existed.
- edaemon 9y ago
  Which is also branded as one of "Meet" [1], "Google Meet" [2], or "Hangouts Meet" [3], depending on where you go. [1] https://meet.google.com/ https://meet.google.com/ [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=google+meet https://www.google.com/search?q=google+meet [3] https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1013231476 https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1013231476
- sorenjan 9y ago
  > Meet doesn't work on your browser > To join the video meeting > Install the current version of Google Chrome Google is the new Microsoft. Also, don't forget Google Spaces. Although you might as well, it lasted less than a year.
- bradbeattie 9y ago
  And Spaces: https://get.google.com/spaces/ https://get.google.com/spaces/ Oh, that one's already gone. Why on earth would anyone jump on board a new Google product when they have the lifespan of fruit flies?
rwc 9y ago
But you forgot Chat! They've held their Slack competitor announced nearly a year ago in EAP so long you wonder if the damn thing will ever see the light of day... https://gsuite.google.com/campaigns/index__chateap.html https://gsuite.google.com/campaigns/index__chateap.html

Also, they have had Hangouts, Messenger, Talk, Voice, Allo, and Duo... most with the same functionality. What is up with Google's product management? Is there a strategy?

joekrill 9y ago

Then they seem to randomly consolidate (I believe Hangouts was supposed to bring all that together, including SMS), only to do a complete 180 a few months later and split everything up again. I mean it's kind of absurd at this point.

ignoramous 9y ago
I think the hangouts/duo/allo is a one-off, and that was because of Vic Gundotra loosing out?

mbesto 9y ago

My understanding is that they effectively let these service duke it out to see which one survives and then choose that one.

ocdtrekkie 9y ago
The problem is, most of these sorts of services work via a network effect. Especially chat: You use the one all your friends are using. Payment is the one that all your accounts and stores you go to support. Running a bunch of your own competitors is self-defeating when it ensures you don't have the network effect. Google Talk worked mostly because it was in Gmail, and everyone had Gmail. People who never used it had it, because Gmail.
yupyup 9y ago
Darwinian Product Strategy? Quick, someone should register it and publish a book and make a career giving talks about it...
jaxondu 9y ago
Feel the same. One example is Angular Typescript and then there is AngularDart, both are used by teams in Google.
gedy 9y ago
Maybe that works for their internal politics, but not for the users. I've given up even trying new Google offerings
- mbesto 9y ago
  Never said it was a good strategy ;)

nine_k 9y ago

Hmm, what? I think e.g. Talk/Hangouts and Voice are radically different: one is about text messaging and video calls, another is about a connection to the "legacy" voice telephony network, with a dial-able number, etc. They started (long ago) form very different areas. They could have a seamless bridge between them, though. They sort of tried: you can dial a phone from Hangouts, but not back, or you can receive your Voice text messages in the email, but not send a reply back (afaict). Google is notoriously bad at cohesive product management. They have a number of bright ideas, but no visionary in the consumer product space, so apparently no coordination.

niftich 9y ago
Google Voice was a rebrand of a product acquired in 2009. Google Talk was an XMPP chat service launched in 2005, and integrated into Gmail in 2006. "+Hangouts" was originally a feature inside Google Plus, launched in 2011, just like "+Messenger". 'Google Hangouts' was a 2013 launch to bring Talk, +Messenger, and +Hangouts into one product. This was further blurred by their various apps, which sometimes had differing functionality from the websites. The latest iteration of Google Voice has chat, for example, while SMS support inside the Hangouts Android App was removed on purpose and users told to use yet another app, first called Messenger, now called Messages. All their communication products suffer from convergent evolution, yet remain in dizzyingly varying states of integration with each other.
- jyrkesh 9y ago
  I've had a miserable love-hate relationship with Google Voice for years, what do you mean by "the latest iteration of Google Voice has chat?"
  - niftich 9y ago
    Announced in January 2017, the Android, iOS, and Web versions of Google Voice have a revamped UI and, apparently, text chat [1]; discussed on HN at [2]. [1] https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updates-our-google-voice-apps/ https://blog.google/products/google-voice/ringing-2017-updat... [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13463940 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13463940

jonny_eh 9y ago

You forgot Google Meet: https://meet.google.com/ https://meet.google.com/

weber111 9y ago
Thanks for pointing that out! I had no idea it existed.
edaemon 9y ago
Which is also branded as one of "Meet" [1], "Google Meet" [2], or "Hangouts Meet" [3], depending on where you go. [1] https://meet.google.com/ https://meet.google.com/ [2] https://www.google.com/search?q=google+meet https://www.google.com/search?q=google+meet [3] https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1013231476 https://itunes.apple.com/US/app/id1013231476
sorenjan 9y ago
> Meet doesn't work on your browser > To join the video meeting > Install the current version of Google Chrome Google is the new Microsoft. Also, don't forget Google Spaces. Although you might as well, it lasted less than a year.
bradbeattie 9y ago
And Spaces: https://get.google.com/spaces/ https://get.google.com/spaces/ Oh, that one's already gone. Why on earth would anyone jump on board a new Google product when they have the lifespan of fruit flies?

rwc 9y ago

But you forgot Chat! They've held their Slack competitor announced nearly a year ago in EAP so long you wonder if the damn thing will ever see the light of day... https://gsuite.google.com/campaigns/index__chateap.html https://gsuite.google.com/campaigns/index__chateap.html