Google Launches Slack Competitor 'Hangouts Chat' With Emphasis on AI Chat Bots

[MacRumors]

Google this week announced that its workplace chat app for Mac, PC, iOS, and Android, called "Hangouts Chat," has come out of the Early Adopter Program beta and will be available to anyone who pays for a core G Suite service. Hangouts Chat is an expansion of Google's Hangouts platform and the company's answer to services like Slack, HipChat, Workplace by Facebook, and Microsoft Teams (via TechCrunch).

Google's app emphasizes a few unique artificial intelligence features available for users, involving various chatbots. In one example, Google shows how one person could ask a @Meet bot to "Plan a review meeting next week," and then the bot would communicate with Google Calendar to find the best time for all employees involved in the chat, create the meeting, and then add it to each person's calendar.

App connections include the typical G Suite apps that will come alongside Hangouts Chat, including Docs, Sheets, and Slides, and Google said the workplace chat service will come with 25 bots pre-installed, created by third-party developers. Companies that have already confirmed bots include Xero, Freshdesk, Kayak, Egnyte, and more.

Use artificial intelligence to speed up workflows. When your teams collaborate in Chat, you can speed up manual work, like booking conference rooms, searching for files and more using artificial intelligence.

Schedule meetings, create tasks, or get updates from your team right within Chat. In addition to useful integrations with G Suite apps, Chat connects to several third-party tools, helping you manage all of your work in one place.

At launch, Hangouts Chat supports 28 languages and each room can include up to 8,000 members. In terms of security, Google said Hangouts Chat will follow the G Suite promise of a "security-first ecosystem," with features like single sign-on, two-factor authentication, admin settings, integration with Google Vault, and more.

For businesses that embrace Hangouts Chat, Google noted that it is compatible with the original Hangouts software, so it will surface the user's existing contacts when they sign up. The company said it's rolling out the new app over the next week for G Suite users at no additional cost to their subscription. Once launched, Hangouts Chat will be available on Mac, PC, iOS [Direct Link], and Android devices.

Article Link: Google Launches Slack Competitor 'Hangouts Chat' With Emphasis on AI Chat Bots

 

[kecinzer]

This looks interesting. But how it will work with classic Hangouts? I just tried to install it, but I don't see any of my old Hangouts there.

 

[unibility]

Damn! Should’ve invested in Google stock instead of that darn little rascal company called Apple.

At least Google seems to be innovating.

 

[jmh600cbr]

another google product that will soon be dead

 

[BigMcGuire]

Wonder if this works for the old free Google Apps domains? My company got on that early on. We use Slack right now and with Google's record of starting stuff then quitting them, I don't think I'd be able to convince many people to switch (not saying I want to).

 

[Scottsoapbox]

It's sad that Google is trying to replace my admin. How's she going to feed her family Google?! /drama

 

[bigjnyc]

Damn! Should’ve invested in Google stock instead of that darn little rascal company called Apple.

At least Google seems to be innovating.

This is like their 15th attempt at a chat app, Mostly all of the others have failed, been abandoned or just never mentioned again. They just keep trotting out these crappy chat apps that they then stop supporting or updating.. innovation at it's finest.

 

[Localcelebrity]

Finally, Wave 2.0

 

[AmazingRobie]

Google has a long history of taking away useful features and discontinuing "popular" products. They've recently taken away the ability to search by image sizes in the 'Images' search and Google+ is a nightmare to navigate. They think it's okay to take other people work and not only profit from it, but then turn around and copyright works which did not previously hold copyrights and prevent others from using them. They're a s company. There's no telling what their chatbot is doing with the data that's being collected. Avoid at all costs.

 

[BigMcGuire]

Google has a long history of taking away useful features and discontinuing "popular" products. They've recently taken away the ability to search by image sizes in the 'Images' search and Google+ is a nightmare to navigate. They think it's okay to take other people work and not only profit from it, but then turn around and copyright works which did not previously hold copyrights and prevent others from using them. They're a s company. There's no telling what their chatbot is doing with the data that's being collected. Avoid at all costs.

They are very good at making money and their initial motto of "Do No Evil" is now taking a very far second place to their primary goal of making money. But yeah, even back when they were doing no evil, products were killed off for whatever reason - quite a few of them I used and really liked. I never understood their push to let their developers do side projects but the need to kill off a certain amount every year or two.

 

[Massimo1926]

Again?

 

[AppleMad98004]

Damn! Should’ve invested in Google stock instead of that darn little rascal company called Apple.

At least Google seems to be innovating.

Until no one uses it and they kill this. They have a history of abandoning products after collecting all the data they need from users.

 

[canadianreader]

Is it like Discord ??

 

[itsmilo]

Too bad we are not allowed to use US based software at my company (which is kind of ironic since we are running windows 10 but what do i know ...)

 

[Vulkan]

This is like their 15th attempt at a chat app, Mostly all of the others have failed, been abandoned or just never mentioned again. They just keep trotting out these crappy chat apps that they then stop supporting or updating.. innovation at it's finest.

Like Google Wave? Remember that?

 

[8281]

It’s like Google has five different departments working on separate chat apps all at once and they never speak to one another.

 

[JoeyAnthony]

It’s like Google has five different departments working on separate chat apps all at once and they never speak to one another.

If only they had a chat app for interoffice communication...

 

[Steeley]

I won’t even bother. Google release products that are only 70% baked, wonder why they don’t gain mass appeal, then let them die on the vine. They need to focus.

 

[LincolnsiPod]

I gave Hangout the app a try and it is shockingly bad. To wit:

Notifications aren't synced consistently, so even when my chat window is OPEN and ACTIVE, I was still constantly getting notifications on my iPhone and watch.

The thing literally hijacks your typing if you enter a character that could be part of an emoji. It then popups an emoji window, and oftentimes, even if you wanted to use one, the wrong emoji is highlighted. And if the right one happens to be highlighted, you have to hit enter TWICE before it's added and sent. WTF? Even worse, there's no way to disable this grating popup!

Drag and dropping images/files for uploads fails to work. A coworker could not see a screenshot I uploaded, so I had to fall back on the Hangout plugin for Chrome.

The interface is blindingly stupid. When you send a message it animates a NEW icon next to it, as if I wouldn't know the message I JUST ****ING SENT was a new text. I mean, what, just.... huh?

It also consolidates messages into one if you don't get a response before then, far from getting a cleaner look it just looks messy because the timestamp becomes inaccurate. I could send one message and then another 5 minutes later, and yet it suggests I sent it all at the same time, which in certain circumstances can create communication confusion.

It splits your active user list into a separate "tab". I have to go back and forth to check message histories whereas before it was all in one window and easier to click around to read multiple chat histories. Again, no way to change the setting on this. There is literally NO option to adjust the behavior except for notifications, which again don't make sense, because:

Inexplicably, Hangout Chat disabled notifications for my most recent, active conversations, you know, conversations that were recent and active precisely because these are the important people I should ALWAYS get notifications from.

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You know, I get my cookies frosted when Apple can't even get their iMessages sorted in order anymore, and then I go try something like this dreck from Google and I realize the grass is actually NOT greener on the other side.