While Messages and RCS is how Google wants you to message friends, Google Chat also fits that role and the company today reminded us...
tl;dr: after pushing rcs so hard for years, killing hangouts well after forgetting about it, & hiding it from gmail, google now wants you to use its (and google allo's) successor, google chat.
This trend is bad for the Google brand, and I'm surprised that the higher ups there don't understand it. Why should I use a Google service and get attached to it if they are going to unexpectedly remove it entirely?
How long until Google Earth gets the axe? Or even Gmail? I'm writing this on my Google Pixel, but they could theoretically just say "naw we wanna leave the phone market" and then may not make the phone any longer or not provide OS or security updates if that is their prerogative.
For such a large tech company, they have the resources to run these services at cost in order to have their users be more valuable to them in the long term.
I'm still bitter about them completely dismantling the original Google Talk desktop application two decades ago (yes they weren't shortened to app then lol) as it was the best communication platform of its time and had very clear voice comms.
I have a hard time trying new google stuff because it seems they kill it a few years later. Google used to be amazing, now I’m highly skeptical of the company. I’ve even switched to using Bing because google searches just result in a bunch of AI shit and other SEO bullshit.