Today marks the official end of Google Talk, or Gchat. As Google warned earlier this year, the company is making anyone still on the older messaging platform transition to Hangouts today. Gchat debuted in 2005, and was followed in 2013 by Hangouts. Still, for years, Google has been pushing users to switch over to the more thorough and modern-looking chat app. Hangouts really just looks cleaner with chat bubbles. It also features future things, like group video calls.
I admire you if you’ve held out this long on Gchat. Google has repeatedly encouraged us to switch to Hangouts, to the point that I eventually just switched. I also feel for all you holdouts. Savor your Gchat screenshots like there’s no tomorrow because really, there isn’t one. Just think, though, now Google has so many more chat options for you to choose from, like Allo, Duo, Android Messages, and Voice. What a world.