If you look at Google's messaging products timeline, it's an embarrassing mess. If you viewed it in reverse-chronological order, it actually looks like progress.

I've never seen such a careless disregard for a user base combined with the cognitive dissonance of new product releases. Hangouts, Duo, etc aren't circling the drain, they're already in the sewer.

May the original Gchat (with open APIs) rest in peace.