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Yes, the chat in Gmail was "Gmail Chat" aka Gchat, released back in 2006. The standalone app was called Google Talk. [1]

And in 2017, they forced everyone off Google Talk / Gchat and onto Hangouts [2], only to bring us back to where we are.

I'd love to hear the behind-the-scenes about this.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Talk

[2] https://www.theverge.com/2017/3/24/15051272/google-talk-gcha...

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No, not really bringing us back where we were. Back then in the beginning it was a federated XMPP implementation and you could talk with G Chat accounts from outside the Google ecosystem and that's not changing.

Also, there's another "Chat" in Google stables right now - Google's RCS messaging app.

My guess would be Google is just doing its periodic itch thingie that it does with messengers and social networks.

You're correct.

I too, believe that they replaced a perfectly good product with an inferior one, then had the audacity to assume the name of the original product.

Thanks for clearing up that complete mess.

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